Huskies sweep Prosser, head into final stretch of regular season

OTHELLO — With a sweep of Prosser on Friday, the Othello Huskies improved to 10-1 this spring with convincing 10-0 and 15-0 wins over the Mustangs.

Friday’s doubleheader came two weeks after Othello’s previous outing, a home doubleheader against Ellensburg on April 5.

“On Tuesday we kind of ran into a wall — the girls were tired of practicing for so long, and I didn’t realize how long it’d been since we had a game,” Othello head coach Alyssa Martinez said. “We came out this weekend because we also have North Kitsap (Saturday), to look forward to to bring us back.”

Othello freshman Alexa Prochet got the start in the circle for the first time this season, delivering three innings of no-hit softball before senior Persayis Garza stepped into the circle to cap off the no-hitter in a 10-0 Othello win.

In total, four pitchers took the field for Othello on Friday; junior Lovie Franco started the second game, with senior Amarie Guzman stepping in to close the game.

“We started our freshman pitcher, she hasn’t started a game this season so we wanted to give her an opportunity to all of our pitchers to use this as practice for (Saturday),” Martinez said. “We gave all our pitchers two to three innings each to throw, and she did very well. I think that helps her confidence going into later on in the season.”

Garza and Guzman tied for a team-high in hits (three) in the win, with Garza driving in four runs. Prochet hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning to give Othello a 5-0 lead.

“I was just thinking contact, and not to get into my head,” Prochet said. “I just hit the ball.”

Othello recorded 16 hits in the first game and managed to increase that number to 19 in the nightcap. 

“What we’ve been practicing is a little bit of faster speeds, so I think that first game was the adjustment — and we’re usually a little better at adjustments and making them a little quicker, this game was harder, but I think that’s because we haven’t had a lot of games to do that,” Martinez said. 

Garza once again led the team in RBI in the 15-0 win, hitting two home runs against the Mustangs to drive in a total of six runs. Junior Emi Pruneda went three-for-three at the plate, leading the team.

Prochet, Pruneda, senior Miccaela Valdez, junior Kaelee Valdez and sophomore Alizay Pruneda all drove in runs in the second game Friday.

“As a team, we all felt good,” Prochet said. “We’ve all been working during practices, so our fielding and offense was good.”

Othello traveled to play North Kitsap at Mount Si High School on Saturday, and takes the field for another non-league outing against 4A Glacier Peak on Thursday before returning to Central Washington Athletic Conference play Friday on the road against Grandview. 

The Huskies stand tied with East Valley (Yakima) on top of the CWAC standings; Othello hosts the Red Devils for a doubleheader May 3.

With a packed slate over the final two weeks of the regular season, Martinez noted the importance of staying healthy.

“Knowing that we only have 11 (players), we can’t be throwing every practice,” Martinez said. “Going into the end of the season, practices will be designed around staying healthy and just getting the reps in there.”

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

Box scores

Game One

PRO: 0-0-0-0-0 0
OTH: 2-2-2-0-4 10

Game Two

PRO: 0-0-0-0 0
OTH: 6-5-2-2 15

    Othello senior Naraiah Guzman rounds second base in he second game of Friday’s doubleheader against Prosser.
  

    Othello junior Lovie Franco pitches against Prosser in the second game of a doubleheader. Four Huskie pitchers stepped into the circle on Friday.
  

    Othello junior Emi Pruneda looks up toward first base after diving down to field a ground ball against Prosser on Friday.