Eleven girls softball teams are off to undefeated start

Eleven teams won their initial two (or three) games during the first week of Spokane Valley Girls Softball play. 18U – Commercial Battery and Old Country Buffet are both 2-0, the former winning 13-8 and 14-2 led by the batting and run-scoring of Emily Hankel. Shanael Payne drove in the winning run for OCB in a 10-9 victory over WKA Innovations. Rachel Honodel had 14 strikeouts during two pitching performances for WKA and Hailey Holley provided the bat with three hits including a triple.

14U – Marz Mountain is 3-0 and Legends began 2-0, the former winning 18-16 over Farrell Spray Services in its opener. Sierra Findley struck out five in two innings. Emily Farrell went 4-for-6 despite the loss and was 6-for-10 in two games.

12U – Five teams have two wins in this league, four of them undefeated. One, Planet Beach, got a two-run triple from Tiffany Jorden. She was one of several clutch run producers, Alex Judge, Megan Mulloy and Elise Peck among them.

Undefeated Mega Wash got eight strikeouts from Aubrey West in her two pitching stints. Ashley Hoover and Megan Hills, with a double, each drove in two runs during a 12-11 win over Fast Track.

10U – Three teams, Mist, McDonald’s and UNICEP, began the season at 3-0. For Mist, several players had multihit games. Kami Rosa hit a 3-run homer in one game and was 4-for-4 in another. Kelsie Sinclair went 3-for-3 and 4-for-4.

UNICEP’s Hannah Wampler tripled twice during the team’s wins, while Anna Pecha and Kelsey Gumm homered twice in one of the games. Madeline Liberg helped McDonald’s to its unbeaten start, including a two-homer game.

Spokane Valley Baseball

The season is in full swing for the Spokane Valley Baseball youth league, with River City Pizza/Pasta off to a 3-0 beginning in the Midget League for 11- and 12-year olds. The Otis Orchards team holds a narrow lead over Raycap (Greenacres).

Among the highlights of the first three outings, Bennett Moore and Max Johnson of American On-Site Services divided up a dozen strikeouts and each had two hits and scored three runs.

Autocraft’s Isaiah Hainline was 3-for-3, scored three runs and pitched a scoreless inning.

In the PeeWee League for 9- and 10-year olds, Liberty Lake I and Hurliman Heating (Chester I) lead a group of five unbeaten teams with 3-0 records.

Three Liberty Lake pitchers combined on a no-hit, 14-strikeout victory, while Drew Harper had three hits and Benj Herndon hit a bases-loaded double. Austin Tomlinson and Connor Whitney had two hits each, including a homer in win two, and Gage Engel went 3-for-4 and Kody Vaughn drove in two runs in the third victory.

Other highlights: Reed Kannapien struck out seven and was 3-for-4 with three RBIs for Mark Sodorff DDS in one game, Matt Garber was 3-for-4 and drove in four runs in another, and Josh Lobdell hit two triples, driving in four runs.

Austin Holman pitched no-hit ball and fanned seven for unbeaten Elephant Boys (2-0-1) during a 5-5 tie. Cole Rapp hit a walk-off home run for Jim Frazier Trophies and Awards.