Winning fourth straight, Titans back in thick of things

A slow start had University baseball people squirming. The Titans had lost three straight games while falling to 2-6 in the Greater Spokane League.

“We lost games when we were ahead and spent a lot of time talking about pressing,” said Titan coach Don Ressa, last Friday. “We talked about taking one pitch at a time and letting things go.”

In their next three games the Titans averaged 12 runs an outing, including a sweep of West Valley, and Tuesday they won their fourth straight, 6-4 in Clarkston. Now 6-6 in league, they’re back in the thick of things.

“We’re starting to heat up, baby,” said Ressa. “We’re right there.”

The current run began with a 15-0 romp past Cheney and included 9-1 and 12-4 victories over the Eagles.

U-Hi had 15 extra base hits, 10 of them doubles. Five players hit safely in three wins, including Matt Fuller with six hits, including two triples. Ken VanSickle, with two doubles, and Adam Smith, with a double and a home run, each had five hits. Smith was one of four pitchers who produced solid outings, with a four-hit, eight-strikeout effort in the first win over WV and victory in Clarkston where he had two more base hits.

The team resumes action Tuesday against league-leader Ferris and then has back-to-back games against Central Valley.

CV tied with the Titans in the middle of the standings, but they’re just a couple games out of fourth place. The Bears ended a three-game losing skid with a wild 12-11 win over Shadle Park last week, but lost in the seventh inning Tuesday at Gonzaga Prep.

Shadle had 18 hits, but received only two walks, telling in CV’s victory.

“I told my pitchers we were not giving free passes,” said coach Barry Poffenroth of a malady that hurt CV in the losses. “If they hit the ball, they (can) beat us, but I was not going to stand here and watch them walk guys, boot (a ball), then walk another.”

Offensively, four players hit in three games, Kyle Renz with six and Kris Henderson with five. Renz, Henderson and Brandon Johnson each had two doubles. Renz added two more hits at Prep and Henderson had another double.

Third through seventh places in the GSL could go to any team. East Valley (6-6) defeated North Central 6-0 on Bret Riggin‘s one-hitter in a pivotal 3A match-up on Tuesday after beating Ferris and splitting with Mead.

Last week Grant Bruscoe had five hits, including a triple, one of three to hit safely in three games. All told, 11 Knights had base hits – Brady Brunelle with a game-winning homer against Ferris and George Hamilton with two doubles against Mead.

West Valley’s losses to U-Hi hurt, but Tuesday’s 9-2 win over Cheney kept them fourth in league at 6-4 tied with NC atop the five 3A teams.

Justin Marlow hit safely in all four games last week, Mike Hauschild had eight hits, including three doubles and Matt Peterson had seven hits, including a double and home run.

Titans face tests

The fate of University’s softball season will be determined by the outcomes of its next three games, beginning today at Mead.

The Titans are 9-1 and are chasing Shadle Park for the GSL lead, after beating Rogers on Tuesday.

Mead, a game behind the Titans, handed them their loss, 4-1 in the season opener. Since then the Titans have allowed only five runs to be scored on them, the Pirates ending a string of four straight shutouts.

On Friday, U-Hi is home against fifth-place Gonzaga Prep and next Tuesday travels to Shadle.

Central Valley (8-3) shares fifth with the Bullpups and hosts co-third-place teams Mt. Spokane today and Mead on Tuesday.

East Valley (6-5) has three important outings, including Friday’s home game against Clarkston, a fellow 3A team. Also on the docket are road games today and Tuesday against Gonzaga Prep and Mt. Spokane.

West Valley (2-8) faces Rogers, Ferris and North Central in its next three games with an opportunity to move up.

Titan Angie Boardman remains among the league hitting leaders in several categories. She was fourth with a .571 batting average, shared second in doubles (4) and triples (2) and was fifth in runs batted in with 12. That was before going 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs against Rogers

Teammate Tonya Schnibbe was the leader with a .619 average and also has two triples.

CV’s Jamie McCullough was third in hitting at .579 and WV’s Gabi Lobello was sixth at .556. Lobello is also among the league leaders in runs scored (13), walks (9) and stolen bases (11, tied for first).

Golfers keep things close

A wealth of golfing talent continues to keep things interesting in the Greater Spokane League.

After three weeks of the five-week season, fewer than 100 strokes separate eight of the league’s 14 schools.

University is tied with Mead for fourth place, Central Valley and East Valley are fifth and sixth.

In Monday’s match at The Creek at Qualchan, CV’s Nick Grigsby shot a four-under par 68 to finish second by a stroke to Clarkston’s Joel Dahmen.

EV’s Josh White was 10th with a 76, Bear Patrick Norton and U-Hi’s Adam Pritchard both shot 77, and Titan Wes Millard was at 78.

U-Hi’s five-player score was 404, trailing the league’s top three teams, Ferris (377), Gonzaga Prep (381) and Clarkston (398. CV totaled 415 and EV 420.