Titans survive windy encounter
The final day of the 2006 Greater Spokane League softball season was anything but a breeze.
Blustery was more like it.
But despite the gusts – or maybe due to them – the University Titans survived their battle with district rival Central Valley, 7-6 Monday, as the league season came to an end.
District playoffs begin Thursday for the 4A schools, and the Shadle Park Highlanders will be the top seed, earned with a perfect league mark that was culminated by a 6-2 win over visiting East Valley (4-15 in GSL play, 5-15 overall) on Tuesday.
But it might be No. 4 seed Mt. Spokane (14-5 in GSL play and overall) entering the postseason on the biggest roll, after senior pitcher Kristina DeMello tossed her second no-hitter of the year in the Wildcats’ 1-0 win over visiting Lewis and Clark. For all the district matchups in 4A and 3A, see accompanying graphic.
Both U-Hi and CV will be in the postseason, but neither was at their best Monday. Yes, they combined to pound out 24 hits, but they also committed seven errors and left 14 runners stranded.
Not your typical low-scoring, defense-and-pitching-dominated fastpitch game.
“When you’re in a rivalry game, it’s hard sometimes to settle down and play,” said U-Hi coach Jon Schuh. “Both teams battled back-and-forth and both had some defensive miscues, which I didn’t expect. But the wind was a factor. We talked to our outfielders about not ever giving up on a fly ball and you saw why.”
It was the host Bears (14-5 in both) who got the worst of the wind-blown fly balls, twice dropping twisting, turning high pops, both with two outs and both resulting in runs.
After U-Hi (17-2, 17-3) built a 3-0 lead, CV rallied with three in the bottom of the third, aided by a two-base outfield error. U-Hi answered with two in the fourth – the second scoring when Riki Schiermeister was hit by the throw while stealing second and the ball caromed to the left-field fence – before CV scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the inning.
But the Titans answered again in the fifth, with winning pitcher Mandy Mikelson stroking a one-out triple, Theresa Tveit following with a double and scoring the eventual game winner on a dropped popup with two outs.
Central Valley threatened in the sixth and seventh innings, but Mikelson raised her record to 9-0 by wiggling out of both jams, ending the game on back-to-back strike outs.
In other GSL action, DeMello struck out 15 and allowed only one base runner (on a fourth-inning walk) to lift host Mt. Spokane. Jenn Andrews’ sixth-inning squeeze bunt scored Mindy Yorlano with the only run. Hayley Urgeleit took the loss for Lewis and Clark (3-16, 3-16) despite yielding only two hits. … Sam Skillingstad struck out 17 to raise her – and Shadle’s – overall record to 20-0. Kinzee Powell supplied the offense with a home run and three RBIs. … Visiting Gonzaga Prep (7-12, 7-12) scored four times in the fourth en route to a 10-5 upset over district-bound Rogers (12-7, 13-7). Catcher Molly Anderson paced the Bullpups’ 10-hit attack with two hits and an RBI. Rogers’ catcher Shannon Carlon was 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. … Mead (11-8, 11-8) pounded out 24 hits, scored 14 times in the first inning and routed host Ferris (2-17, 2-17) 34-3 in five innings. Kati Bronson had a grand slam in the first and finished with six RBIs. … Rae Anne Cumbie also hit a grand slam and had six RBIs as North Central stopped host Cheney (4-15, 4-16) 14-1 in five. Kelcie Vallies tossed a one-hitter for NC (13-6, 13-6). … Courtney McKeehan won her 10th game of the year, one-hitting host West Valley (2-17, 2-18) in a six-inning, 15-2 Clarkston triumph. The Bantams (11-8, 12-8) scored seven times in the second, the big blow a three-run home run from Michele Malcom.