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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Prep softball: Macie Reynolds’ 6 RBIs help CV outlast Mead at district

Central Valley coach Joe Stanton called it three games in one, but for Macie Reynolds it was just one big game.

Reynolds, a sophomore catcher, homered twice and totaled six runs batted in, including a crucial two-run double in the top of the 11th inning, as CV outlasted Mead 16-15 on Wednesday at Whitworth University to clinch a berth in the District 8 4A softball title game.

The Bears (12-9) led 7-0 after two innings and 8-1 in the top of the fifth before the Panthers (14-7) scored 10 runs over their final three innings to force extra innings. From there, the teams counterpunched until Reynolds’ big double to center field gave the Bears a 16-13 lead that barely held up in the bottom of the 11th.

“(At 8-1), I was even telling my assistant coaches, ‘No lead is safe in this league,’ and one of my JV guys said, ‘Oh, you’re fine. You’re fine,’ ” Stanton said. “And he came to me in the seventh and said, ‘Boy, you sure know these games better than I do.’ ”

Asked if she’d homered twice in a game before, Reynolds said, “I haven’t, actually. It was a shock. I was pretty happy with myself the way I came through tonight.”

CV will meet University (17-4) at 5 p.m. Friday at Whitworth for the district championship and seeding to regionals. U-Hi defeated CV 9-2 early in the Greater Spokane League season and 7-6 last week.

Mead (14-7) will meet Lewis and Clark (7-15) at 3 p.m. Friday in a winner-to-regional, loser-out game.

Bears senior shortstop Shayla Vegas also homered twice, mashing two-run shots to center in the first and second.

“We have some sluggers,” Stanton said. “We have some kids who can really put some sting into the ball, as you saw today.”

CV freshman pitcher Kelsey Gumm, who held Mead to three singles and Meredith Clark’s solo homer through four innings, ran into trouble starting with Sydney Hellman’s one-out double in the fifth. Mead totaled 10 runs and 10 hits during the fifth, sixth and seventh, and tied the game at 11 with a four-run seventh.

Clark, who finished 4 for 6, lined a two-out, two-run single to left to cut CV’s lead to 11-10. Mikaylie King laced the next pitch to left to score Sydney Shanholtzer for a tie.

Both teams scored single runs in the ninth and 10th with the international tiebreaker in effect. After CV’s three-run 11th, Hellman singled home a run and scored on a wild pitch before Shanholtzer was stranded at second to end the marathon.

CV started the season 1-4 and stood at 3-5 after a 5-0 loss to Mead on April 2.

“I think a lot of teams were thinking we weren’t going to pull through this year, and I think we proved them wrong exactly in this game,” Reynolds said.

U-Hi 7, LC 4 (5): Rachael Johnson’s two-run, inside-the-park homer snapped a 2-all tie and vaulted the Titans past the Tigers in a game ruled as official after the top of the fifth because of darkness.

LC took the early lead on Courtney Smith’s two-run triple into the right-field corner in the first. U-Hi struck back with two in the first as Alex Surby and Brooklynn Tacke laced RBI singles to left.

Winning pitcher Alex Douglas keyed a three-run third with an RBI single to center.

The Titans defeated LC 10-1 and 16-1 during the GSL season.