Shadle wins two, captures state berth

RICHLAND – This year, stingy Shadle Park took the easy way to state.

On Saturday, at Columbia Playfields, the Highlanders completed their three-game sweep of the 4A regional softball tournament while allowing nary a run.

“That was our plan,” said coach George Lynn, with a laugh.

Shadle (24-1) opened with a 2-0 semifinal victory over Pasco to assure a state berth. The Highlanders capped it with a 9-0 romp over Richland in the championship game to become the Greater Spokane League’s lone 4A state representative.

University (20-6) which unleashed a home run barrage during two wins, could not solve Walla Walla, which beat the Titans twice, including in the consolation game, 10-3, for the region’s third state berth.

The Titans earlier ousted Central Valley (15-10) 10-1 and Pasco 15-4. Mead (15-10) lost 7-6 in eight innings to Moses Lake.

In Shadle’s three wins, pitcher Sam Skillingstad threw a perfect game to beat Moses Lake on Friday and had two-hit and three-hit victories Saturday. She struck out 44 batters.

“Once again Sammy was solid,” said Lynn.

And while the batters produced their share of offense during the weekend, it was opportunism that got them past Pasco.

China Frost tripled to open the bottom of the first inning and scored on an error. Heather Jackson reached base on an error to lead off the sixth, advanced on a bunt by Skillingstad and scored on another error. That was the extent of the offense as Skillingstad fanned 14 to blunt Pasco’s hopes.

Lynn called it the second-toughest game of the tournament after the Moses Lake game in which the Highlanders were coming off a loss.

If the title game against Richland was more for fun with a state berth already secured, the fun really began in the top of the fourth inning.

Up to that time neither team had scored, Skillingstad fanning batters for all nine outs. She did weather a second-inning double by Shelby Haag and a wild pitch, but left the Bombers right fielder hanging out at third with two of her strikeouts.

In the fourth, Jackson began the rally with a single that just got over the infield. Skillingstad followed with a hit and Jenn Schwartz scorched a base hit into right field to plate the game’s first run.

“Coach tells us to go up with a plan,” Schwartz said. “I look for one to drive and actually for me, I prefer an outside pitch. I hit it where it was placed.”

That was one big factor to the big inning, Lynn said. The second was a two-strike suicide squeeze that followed by Krista Zappone so perfectly placed it not only plated a run, but left her on base with a hit.

When the smoke had cleared in the inning, the Highlanders were ahead 6-0, keyed by Danielle Lynn’s bases-loaded triple.

Shadle padded the lead with three more runs in the seventh inning, including an RBI hit by pinch-hitter Kylie Shook and line-drive single by Zappone.

In other games: U-Hi clubbed six home runs in its wins over CV and Pasco.

Michelle Wells, Ali Warren and Riki Schiermeister homered against the Bears and seven players had runs batted in. But Ashley Fargher really put on a show in the second win. She nearly hit for the home run “cycle” with a grand slam in the fourth inning after Pasco had rallied from a three-run deficit to lead 4-3. In successive at-bats she hit a two-run homer and ended the game in the seventh with a three-run shot. She finished with 10 RBIs.

But it was a three-run homer by Walla Walla No. 8 batter Caitlin Doherty that signaled the beginning of U-Hi’s demise in the game for state. The Titans subsequently fell behind 10-0 before scoring three times in the fifth inning.

Mead and Moses Lake swapped runs in a noon loser-out game. Mead’s Panthers went ahead on Katie Kine’s single in the top of the eight, but a two-out, two-strike hit by Chiefs player Shawnee Durbin ended Mead’s season.