Kalama Wins Title In Stunner As Reardan Takes Third

B Softball

Kalama, making only its second trip to the State B slowpitch softball tournament, scored all of its runs in the final two innings Saturday at Franklin Park and shocked previously unbeaten Cascade Christian 12-8 to win the 1996 title.

The Chinooks (23-1) pounded out 19 hits and benefited from six Cougars errors, although they still couldn’t score in the first five innings.

They sent 13 batters to the plate in sixth, however, and scored eight runs to tie the game. The Central League champions then added four more in the top of the seventh to hand the Sea-Tac League champions their only loss in 21 games.

Reardan, which had won the Bi-County League title, nipped Garfield-Palouse 8-7 in the consolation finals to finish third.

The win capped a 24-6 season and left Reardan coach Jeff Leavitt wondering what might have been had he not had his Indians so well-prepared for Friday’s opener against Bridgeport-Mansfield.

Anticipating that match-up, Leavitt scouted the Fillies during their drive to the District 6 championship.

“I knew everything about them - all their names, who played where and how they hit,” he said. “I went over it all with my girls.”

Armed with Leavitt’s detailed scouting report, the Indians went out and failed to score in a 5-0 opening-round loss that dropped them into the losers bracket.

“Looking back, maybe we were a little too relaxed,” Leavitt said.

Faced with elimination, the Indians swept past DeSales 8-6, Kittitas 5-0 and Orcas Island 7-6 to set up a rematch with Bridgeport-Mansfield in the losers bracket semifinals.

They avenged their loss, 8-3, then slipped past Gar-Pal by scoring twice in the top of the seventh inning on a run-scoring, three-base error and Andrea Gray’s RBI single.

Gar-Pal (20-5), which won the Whitman County League, got three hits from Joey Cottrill.

Reardan’s rally paled, however, in comparison to Kalama’s comeback in the title game.

Amy Higgens’ two-run triple was the big blow in the sixth, and Melissa Payne drove in two runs in the seventh with one of her four singles.

“They’ve been doing this to me all tournament,” coach Neal Rodman said of his team’s late-game heroics. “I’m probably going to lose the rest of my hair.”

The Chinooks almost didn’t survive the opening round, rallying to beat Wahluke 7-6 in eight innings.

Kalama then rallied from a 7-4 deficit to beat Springdale 9-8 in the quarterfinals and came from four runs down to edge Bridgeport-Mansfield 7-6 in the semis.

In other Saturday action involving area schools, Davenport eliminated Springdale 8-3 and Toutle Lake 12-4 before bowing to Gar-Pal 15-11 in the losers bracket semifinals.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline was ousted by Toutle Lake, 8-3, in the second round of the losers bracket.

, DataTimes