Wildcats Arrive At District

This week’s District 8 4A softball tournament is old hat for five of the six participants.

Mt. Spokane’s appearance in the regional qualifying event is a different matter.

To borrow from the Dave Matthews Band, the Wildcats are treading untrodden trails when they play today at Franklin Park.

“It’s just exciting,” said Mt. Spokane coach Raeleen Epperson. “It’s nice to feel this is fun again. It’s nice that this year turned out so positive.”

The previous two years, her teams won a total of nine games.

“Sometimes, if there were close games and we got down a bit, it was hard to battle back,” she said.

The Wildcats more than doubled their victory output by winning 11 this year and creating a four-way tie for third in league.

How they did it is almost as exciting as the fact they are making their first district appearance.

The team won five of its last six GSL games, including major upsets over second-place Shadle Park and today’s first-round playoff foe, Lewis and Clark.

Beating Shadle 1-0 was a highlight of the season, said Epperson. The 2-1 win over LC was an 11-inning nail-biter indicative of the new Mt. Spokane.

“I thought we had it in the bottom of the seventh,” Epperson said. “There were two outs and we were ahead 1-0. There was a high popup between third base and pitcher. I was ready to pack it up, and no one catches it.”

The game went extra innings as a result, but unlike previous years, Mt. Spokane hung tough.

“In the past,” said pitcher Jodi Hultquist, “we were expected to lose. We decided at the beginning of this year we were going to win some games.”

Hultquist is one of seven seniors who persisted through the lean years. She and catcher Terrah Summers have played together since age 12. Shawna Powell, Morgan Cerenzia, Elina Gee, Char McGee and Amy Weatherman are other third-year varsity players.

They’ve come a long way, joining perennials University, Central Valley, Rogers, LC and Shadle in the district playoffs.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SOFTBALL District 8 4A

Where: Franklin Park Today’s games: Game 1 - Lewis and Clark vs. Mt.

Spokane (loser out, winner to regional), 3:45 p.m. Game 2 - Central Valley vs. Rogers (loser out, winner to regional), 6 p.m.

What’s to come: The tournament - including top two seeds University and Shadle Park - continues Friday and Tuesday with regional seeding games.