Mavs off to 5-1 start

MOSES LAKE – After suffering its first setback of the 2023 season in a loss to Mt. Spokane on Saturday, the Moses Lake softball team is looking to get back on track with four matchups this week.

“5-1 is a good start, but obviously we’d want to have won them all,” Moses Lake Head Coach Mike Hofheins said. “Mt. Spokane last weekend was better than us that day.”

The Mavericks held a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning, but Mt. Spokane scored three runs over the course of the bottom of the second and third innings on Saturday. Moses Lake scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning – the first off an RBI by junior Raegan Hofheins, where she later scored a run of her own on a passed ball, and the third run coming off an RBI single by senior Jazlynn Torres.

A six-run bottom of the fourth gave the Wildcats the lead for good, which they eventually rode out to an 11-4 win over Moses Lake.

“I don’t know that (the loss is) necessarily a bad thing, for us to refocus on some things to work on and whatnot,” Hofheins said. “As we get into the meat of our league season, I think it might end up being a good thing.”

The game against Mt. Spokane was the nightcap of a doubleheader on Saturday, where the Mavs also faced Mead. That game ended in a 5-2 comeback win for Moses Lake.

Hofheins said the team is playing a tough non-league slate to get used to good pitching around the state.

“We face Eastmont and West Valley, that’s what we’ve got to be ready for,” Hofheins said. “We try to find as many types of opponents as we can possibly find.”

Moses Lake started the season with four-straight wins, scoring double-digit runs in all four outings: 11-2 over Southridge, 16-0 over Lakeside and 18-1 and 13-1 wins over Sunnyside. Hofheins credits this to the strong batting lineup that the Mavs have.

“One I think about or team is one through nine, we’re pretty potent,” Hofheins said. “They can’t really let up on us. The bottom part of our lineup does just as much damage as the top part. We’re strong all the way through.”

The team is ready to get back on the field to avenge their first loss of the year, Hofheins said.

“I don’t have a big concern about our girls getting back out there,” Hofheins said. “They want to get back and play better. They’re pretty motivated.”

Moses Lake will travel to Yakima for a doubleheader against Eisenhower on Friday before another doubleheader on Saturday in Wenatchee, where they will play Othello and Glacier Peak.

“We just need to have a good week of practice,” Hofheins said. “We took Monday off to rest their arms a little bit, and we’re gonna go hard Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then we have a doubleheader at (Eisenhower) on Friday.”

First pitch against Eisenhower on Friday is at 3 p.m., and against Othello on Saturday at noon.

“As you go through the season, as long as you can walk away from a weekend feeling like you’re better, then that’s what you have to go with,” Hofheins said. “Every now and then balls are going to fall for the other team or you’re going to make errors, but you just have to build off it. I think that’s what our mindset is.”

Box Score

Moses Lake 1-0-0-3-0-0-0: 4

Mt. Spokane 0-2-1-6-2-0-x: 11