Titans take championship
Two arms – and one hit – proved better than one Tuesday at Whitworth College.
The two arms belonged to University pitchers Mandy Mikelson and Linse Vlahovich. The hit belonged to catcher Ashley Fargher.
They were enough to lift the Titans to the District 8 4A softball championship, 1-0, over Greater Spokane League champion Shadle Park.
In the day’s first game, Mead teamed flawless defense with Kim Watson’s clutch pitching, added a couple of arguable runs and stopped Mt. Spokane 3-0.
U-Hi’s win earns it the GSL’s top seed to this weekend’s East Region with the Big Nine Conference in Richland, where the Titans will face Pasco. Shadle Park draws Walla Walla, Mead gets Southridge and Mt. Spokane has undefeated Richland (23-0). All first-round games are Friday at 6 p.m.
For U-Hi to have the top spot seemed far-fetched early this month when the Highlanders (20-2) ran past the Titans 7-0 in their regular-season showdown. But the seeds of the district win were sown then – on the Titans’ bench.
“The last time we played them, (assistant coach) Don (Owen) said he thought the top of their lineup would have trouble with the drop ball,” U-Hi coach Jon Schuh said. “We used Mandy from there to get her ready. We decided to give her the shot, then bring in Linse if we needed.
“Mandy really stepped up and Linse came through when we needed. They both stayed focused and hit their spots.”
Mikelson, a drop-ball thrower who had only two decisions coming in – both wins – started and pitched two-hit ball into the fourth. It was after that second hit, a single by Shadle’s Randi Sandifer, that Schuh went to Vlahovich, U-Hi’s ace with a 16-2 record. With two on – China Frost had reached earlier on the game’s lone error – and one out, Vlahovich got a strikeout and a fly out to end the threat.
When the top of Shadle’s lineup came around again in the sixth, Mikelson returned to the circle for a 1-2-3 inning. Vlahovich returned in the seventh with the same result.
It was enough because the Titans (20-2) cashed in their one chance against freshman Sam Skillingstad (10-2).
Skillingstad struck out 16, yielded only the one hit and walked just one. But the hit and walk came in the fourth inning.
With one out Tonya Schnibbe walked, stole second and third while Angie Boardman was striking out. With a 1-2 count, cleanup hitter Fargher jumped on a rise and pulled it into the hole between third and short for the game’s run.
“I’ve been working on loading my hands earlier and it’s really helped,” said Fargher, who transferred last fall from Kamiakin where she played third base. “Catching has really helped my hitting, too. I’m seeing the ball out of the pitcher’s hand so much better.”
No one seemed to see the ball all that well in the opening game against Watson (20-3) and Mt. Spokane’s Kristina DeMello (13-6).
Watson limited Mt. Spokane (17-6) to two hits, one a double by Kassie Lewis. But that was followed by two groundouts to shortstop Chantal Hughes-Gardner, two of her eight assists.
She also scored Mead’s first run, on Katie Kine’s sixth-inning squeeze bunt. The ball died in front of the plate, but catcher Jackie Purser bobbled it, then dove in front of the plate with the ball in her bare hand.
Hughes-Gardner saw that and jumped over the tag to score. Meanwhile, Kine headed to second, and when the throw got past center fielder Lacey Kerr, who was hustling to cover second, Kine scored as well.
Both runs were still being debated after the game because, under high school rules, a runner can’t jump over a fielder unless they are prone. But Mead (20-3) added another run in the seventh on Megan Thigpen’s single and the Panthers got to avoid Richland.
“We really didn’t care about that,” Mead coach John Barrington said. “It was more important for us to just bounce back from Monday’s loss. We wanted to have some momentum going into the regional.”