Huskies fall to Selah in CWAC title game
Othello junior Naraiah Benavidez-Guzman swings at a pitch against Selah on Tuesday in the Central Washington Athletic Conference district title game.
IAN BIVONA/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Othello junior Amarie Guzman pitches during the third inning against Selah on Tuesday.
Othello junior Persayis Garza smiles while running around the bases at Carlon Park after hitting a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning against Selah.
SELAH – Down 2-1 to Selah in the Central Washington Athletic Conference district tournament game, the Vikings rallied off nine runs in the top of the fifth inning to take down Othello 11-1, sending the Huskies to a loser-out game in the District 5/6/8 Crossover against Clarkston.
“That was mostly our fault,” Othello Head Coach Rudy Ochoa said. “We made a couple of errors we shouldn’t have made … It just started snowballing. It seemed, after a while, it didn’t matter what we did.”
The Vikings and Huskies remained scoreless through the first three innings, but Selah struck first with an RBI single and an RBI off a groundout to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Othello junior Persayis Garza cut the Selah lead to one with a solo home run to center field in the bottom of the fourth, the lone Huskie run of the day.
Selah recorded two outs in its first three at-bats to begin the fifth inning, but then the hits began to stack up. An RBI double moved the lead to 3-1, and an error committed allowed the Vikings to score another run in the next at-bat. Back-to-back RBI singles pushed the Selah lead to 6-1, and a bases-loaded walk gave the Vikings a 7-1 lead.
A grand slam wrapped up the nine-run top of the fifth for Selah, hit by freshman Avery Brewer to give Selah an 11-1 lead.
“It happens, the team will break down, but it can’t happen this weekend,” Ochoa said.
Down by 10, Othello was unable to add any additional runs to the board to end the game in five innings.
Despite the loss, Othello still has a chance to advance to the 2A state tournament with a home game against Clarkston on Saturday in the 2A District 5/6/8 Crossover. Clarkston (13-10) lost to Shadle Park in the Greater Spokane League final on Saturday.
“Clarkston’s going to be tough,” Ochoa said. “They lost to Shadle Park 2-0. It’s not going to be an easy game, it’s going to be a tough game.”
Othello was held to only three hits in Tuesday’s loss; Garza’s home run, a single by junior Naraiah Benavidez-Guzman and a single by junior Amarie Guzman.
“Some more batting practice is all,” Ochoa said.
First pitch against Clarkston is at 2 p.m. at Othello.
Ian Bivona can be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
Box Score
SEL: 0-0-0-2-9 11
OTH: 0-0-0-1-0 1
