Newest CBH reporter wants to highlight local athletes

MOSES LAKE – For Mike Maynard, the most interesting aspect of sports is the stories that are told in the lives of athletes. “There’s fascinating people everywhere, no matter where you look,” said Maynard. “I want to tell people’s stories; that’s my goal.”

GALLERY: Looking back at May 2025

COLUMBIA BASIN – May was a busy month in Grant and Adams counties with the end of spring sports, a variety of community events and community members coming together for a variety of reasons. Here are just a few glimpses of what May held for the Basin.

Law enforcement logs for June 13, 2025

The reports below were provided by the sheriff's office or police department indicated. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Mavericks athletics overcome levy obstacles

Community help, dedicated coaches and parental support make for a successful year of MLHS athletics.

MOSES LAKE – The school year has come to an end, the class of 2025 has graduated, and an unprecedented year of athletics has been completed. After the local levy in 2024 failed to pass twice, Moses Lake athletics and extracurriculars were faced with financial challenges like they had never seen. Loren Sandhop is the Athletic Director at Moses Lake High School and oversaw the task of making sports happen throughout the 2024-25 school year. According to Sandhop, due to a shortfall exceeding $20 million, athletics of any kind were being called into question.

Jacks reflect on 2025 baseball season

QUINCY – The Quincy Jackrabbits baseball team finished their 2025 season with a 5-15 record and entered the District Five tournament as the seventh seed. This was their first year back in 2A as they played in the Central Washington Athletic Conference. “We wanted to try and secure a home field opening round district game,” said Jacks’ head coach Seth Longwill. “Keep improving, working up, having some momentum going into districts and be able to play with anybody to give ourselves a chance to advance.”

Ephrata water tower gets its top

EPHRATA — The construction of the new Ephrata water tower reached a significant milestone on Saturday morning with the successful placement of its lid, marking the completion of the tower's main structural components. As community members looked on, the lid was hoisted to its final position, a crucial step forward in a project that is expected to enhance water pressure and reliability for residents. Mayor Bruce Reim, who has been closely following the project, expressed his excitement about the progress.

Mavericks softball season recap

MOSES LAKE — The Mavericks softball team concluded the 2025 season with a 16-9 record and appearances in the 4A district title game and the state tournament. Despite not bringing home hardware, Head Coach Mike Hofheins said his team had a successful season. “I think we had confidence within ourselves that we were going to be right in it for a league title, and we were, and we were able to capture the regular season title, and we took second in districts and qualified for state,” he said. The Mavericks started off 1-2; they won their first game against Walla Walla but dropped two in a row to Mt. Spokane and Richland. Despite the losses, Hofheins said those two games showed him what his team was capable of. According to him, his team was able to hang with both of them and put up a fight.

RMS Oceanic Outlaws take award at national robotics tournament

ROYAL CITY — The Oceanic Outlaws think fast. The robotics team from Royal Middle School, representing Washington state, took first place at the national First Lego League Western Edge national competition May 30-June 1 in a special “On the Spot” challenge.

Warriors baseball season recap

COULEE CITY – The Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors concluded their baseball season with a successful record of 19-4 and a third-place finish in the state tournament. Head coach Hunter Lee said his team met their expectations for the season.

Superintendent Lewis provides update on MLSD finances

MOSES LAKE – During the regular Moses Lake School District board meeting held Thursday night, Superintendent Carol Lewis delivered a report weaving together elements of the district’s financial status and academic strategies, leaning into a prior cross-country race analogy for the next four years.

Ideas, suggestions, challenges focus of homelessness forum

MOSES LAKE — About 100 people came to the Moses Lake Civic Center Tuesday to make suggestions and consider options for the way forward after the Open Doors Sleep Center closes at the end of the month.

Ephrata Tigers' soccer season recap

EPHRATA – The Ephrata Tigers soccer team ended their Spring 2025 season in the district tournament with a 3-12-1 overall record. “I think we’re there,” said Tigers head coach Ivan Garay. “Our record doesn’t show it, but when you know the story of every game you understand that we were in it and that it’s just the things you do in the offseason and how to develop to get us to that next level.” The Tigers' goal this season remained the same as every season, which is to play to make it to the state tournament, said Garay. They wanted to prepare themselves as a well-conditioned team that has a multitude of skills and tactics to give them the best chance against competitive teams.

Ephrata Tigers Baseball season recap

EPHRATA – The Ephrata Tigers baseball team ended their 2025 season with a 4-18 record after entering the district tournament as the number eight seed. “As the season went along, we had our bumps in the road with different teams we were playing and that’s going to happen,” Tigers head coach David Tempel said. “I was very pleased with how we competed in some of the games where on paper it looks a little bit like a tall task.” Coming into the season, the Tigers were made up mostly of young players with very little varsity experience. The goal for them this year was to just improve as much as possible and utilize the teachable moments that occur in every game as the season progressed.

Quincy Jacks 2025 soccer season recap

QUINCY – The Quincy Jacks boys soccer team ended their Spring 2025 season with an overall record of 13-9-1, earning third place in the district tournament and making it to state.

Congrats to ACH Baseball

COULEE CITY – Congratulations to the Almira-Coulee-Hartline Warriors on ending the 2025 spring season in third place at the state tournament. The Warriors had a solid foundation to build off coming into this season and were working toward making another state tournament appearance following their second place finish last season. ACH started the season with a 10-game win streak and would finish off the season with an overall record of 19-4 and a league record of 12-0 in the Northeast 1B, placing them as number one in the conference as they made their way into district play.

Soap Lake’s Xavier Ewing: third in state and boys player of the year

YAKIMA – Soap Lake Eagles tennis player Xavier Ewing took third in the 1B/2B state tournament after placing second in the district tournament. Ewing also earned the title of boys tennis player of the year following the state tournament.

Huskies’ Cabrera ready for next chapter

OTHELLO – Othello Huskies boys soccer player Jose Cabrera idolizes Lionel Messi, a world-renowned soccer player who used to play for the Barcelona Football Club. He can remember from a young age a play that followed the superstar athlete to this day.

ACH Warriors pull third in state tournament

SELAH – The Almira-Coulee-Hartline Warriors earned third in the 1B state tournament Saturday afternoon. The team entered the tournament as the number three seed. “We’ve played a lot of baseball together and we’re kind of senior heavy, so we knew it was coming to an end and there were feelings throughout the weekend,” said Warriors’ senior Carter Pitts.

Basin schools prepare for summer meals

COLUMBIA BASIN — Schools around the Columbia Basin will have food service programs available at no charge for children 18 years of age and younger over the course of the summer. Ephrata “We are going to be offering both congregate meals and non-congregate meals,” said Alain Black, Ephrata School District’s food services director. “One of our schools will have congregate meals where children have to eat on-site.” The on-site meals will be available at Grant Elementary with breakfast served from 8 to 9 a.m. and lunch from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There will also be a grab-and-go meal option which will be distributed in a drive-thru line at Ephrata Middle School from noon to 1 p.m. Both sites will be open Monday-Thursday from June 16 to July 24. The program will be closed for distribution on June 19 in observance of Juneteenth, but grab-and-go boxes for that day will be available for pickup on June 18.

Moses Lake youth soccer program sees success

MOSES LAKE – The Basin Sounders Girls 2011 team had a lot of success this season, bringing the team up to the National Premiere League. The girls finished the spring season in second place for the NPL.