Mavs mount nine-run comeback

MOSES LAKE – Down nine runs in the second game of a doubleheader, the Moses Lake Mavericks mounted a comeback to defeat the West Valley (Yakima) Rams in both games on Tuesday.

The Mavericks won the first game 15-5 before their 15-14 walk-off win over the Rams. With the wins, Moses Lake takes first place in the Columbia Basin Big 9 conference with two remaining regular season games.

“It’s tough being down nine, and all you have to do is you have to pass the bat,” Moses Lake senior Allison Stanley said. “Line drives, props to the team for keeping the momentum going even though we were down nine runs.”

Moses Lake came into the doubleheader after losing its first two games of the season last week on the road against Chiawana. Both losses were by one run each, finishing 9-8 and 11-10.

“We went down to Chiawana and we knew we were going to play a good team,” Moses Lake head coach Mike Hofheins said. “Both games were really back-and-forth, and we did not play well, defensively, at all. We out-hit them in both games, our offense was pretty solid.”

The bats of the Mavericks started out with a bang on Tuesday, scoring seven runs in the first inning against West Valley. Freshman Ava Swett, juniors Morgan Ross and Mikayla Schwartz and seniors Jadelyn Balderas, Piper Bradshaw and Katelyn Kriete all batted in runs for the Mavericks in the inning.

“Don’t let down,” Hofheins said of what was going through his head after the first inning. “They’re good, we knew they were good, they’ve got some sticks. I’m like, ‘Seven’s not gonna be enough.”

Sophomore Paige Richardson added another run with a sac-fly in the fourth, and the Mavericks added an additional seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 10-run lead, giving Moses Lake a 15-5 win in the first game.

In the second game, the Rams returned the favor and scored five runs of their own in the top of the first inning. West Valley added another run on a home run in the second inning, and Moses Lake scored on an RBI triple by Kriete and an RBI single by Swett to make it 6-2 after two innings.

The Rams outscored the Mavericks 7-3 through the top of the sixth inning, including a grand slam that went over the left field wall, to give West Valley a 14-5 lead.

“I was really discouraged, the energy we had wasn’t there when we were down,” Bradshaw said. “I didn’t think it was gonna go pretty good, but we pulled through and managed to win that game.”

The Mavericks had narrowly escaped the 10-run run rule and began going to work to chip at the lead. The bats got started with an RBI double by junior Emmie Olsen and a sac-fly to cut the deficit to seven. The Mavericks added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth off RBI singles by Stanley, Richardson, Bradshaw and Kriete.

After a three up, three down top of the seventh, the Mavericks picked up where they left off when Balderas was walked to first base.

“I just knew what my job was to do, getting on base,” Balderas said.

Junior Kendall Reffett and Stanley both singled to get on base, giving Moses Lake a bases-loaded situation, down by three runs. RBI singles by Schwartz and Richardson tied the game at 14.

“Whenever you have the last at-bat in this game, in slowpitch, you have a good chance,” Hofheins said.

With two outs, Kriete stepped into the batter’s box with two runners on base. Her walk-off hit made Moses Lake’s nine-run comeback official, winning 15-14.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know the score,” Kriete said with a laugh. “I was just waiting for the next play when I found out I hit that walk-off, I was like, ‘Oh!’ That was pretty cool.”

Following the wild win, Moses Lake will be back in action on Thursday on the road at Sunnyside. The doubleheader begins at 3 p.m.

“We still have to go take care of business against Sunnyside on Thursday, we’ve got two games to go, so if we take care of business then we have an opportunity to win the league title, which means we get to host the district championship game,” Hofheins said.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.