As league play ends, tourneys begin

The Spokane Valley Girls softball regular season comes to an end Monday when the final two of its four leagues wrap up play. Teams then leap into double-elimination tournament play.

Homerun Construction and Commercial Battery will determine top seed in the 18U League. Baker Construction has upper hand in 14U, two teams remain unbeaten in 12U, and McDonald’s slipped to the fore in the three-team 10U chase.

18U – Homerun Construction remained 8-0, Cheyenne Valderama pitching a one-hitter and two shutouts with plenty of offensive backing. Commercial Battery (9-1) and Old Country Buffet (7-2) remain in touch. Ashley McCarty pitched and batted Commercial battery to a 5-3 win over WKA Innovations in one recent win, although WKA’s Rachel Honodel matched her nine strikeouts and Hailee Holley hit two triples. McCarty got ample offensive help from Emily Hankel and triples by Alyana McCarty and Austin Henry. Honodel was 3-for-5 and fanned eight in another win.

14U – Baker Construction (7-1) last week beat Marz Mountain (7-2) 19-14 in a first-place showdown. Baker Construction earlier topped Flying J (7-2) 19-9 , Makenna Wasteney hitting two doubles and striking out nine, and Farrell Spray 17-7, Liz Adams with a home run and Wasteney with three last-inning Ks.

12U – Megawash (8-0) and Planet Beach (7-0) remained unbeaten, while Woodcraft (72) and Jewell have one loss each. Megawash’s McKenzie Matson went 4-for-4 and drove in five runs during sa recent win. Aubrey West fanned 8 of 10 batters she faced.

Planet Beach got a double and three RBIs from Alex Judge and 2-for-2 efforts by Abby Groh and Courtney Carolan.

Other highlights: Cameron-Reilly’s Sage Marinello had two hits, including a home run in victory over Osprey. Dallis Beckett hit a single, double and triple to help Old Country Buffet in one game, a triple and home run in another. Fast Track’s Megan Hill hit her fourth double of the year, driving in two runs.

10U – Busy McDonald’s (8-0) won four times in one week, then knocked off UNICEP (9-1) last week to take over first place. Old Country Buffet (8-1) is on their heels. McDonald’s shortstop standout Justis Wells went 11-for-12 in three of the wins and was involved in a triple play defensively. She then went 3-for-3 in the win over UNICEP Jaycee Knudson hit a double, two triples and a home run during the week, Frankie Schade had five hits in two wins and turned a game-ending double play against UNICEP. Elle Hildahl was 3-for-5 in one win with a home run, four runs scored and three driven in.

UNICEP has had contributions from numerous players all season long

Other highlights: Gracee Dwyer of Myers Drywall hit a 3-run homer against UNICEP, tripled in a win over Western Family and a grand slam against Panther Printing. Mist had three-hit games from numerous players, including Kelsie Sinclair who hit two home runs.

Spokane Valley Baseball

Heading into their final games, Midget League race remains taut, while several leaders took their lumps during Pee Wee League competition. Pairings are not far away for single-elimination Spokane Valley Baseball tournaments.

Midget – Four teams are separated by a single game in a division with no unbeatens and a couple games left to play.

Raycap (7-1) moved to the head of the class with Leo’s Photography, River City Pizza/Pasta and American On-Site Services all at 7-2.

Raycap (Greenacres) beat River City (Otis Orchards) 6-5 and Leo’s Photography (Sunrise) edged American On-Site (Pasadena) 4-3 in pivotal games.

Highlights over the past two weeks: During a 7-4 win over Spokane Recycling, three players hit doubles and scored for American On-Site, including Cruz Bale who doubled and tripled, driving in four runs against George Velis DDS. In that game, Tommy Standiford and Bennett Moore each had four hits and three RBI, Nathan Thompson had three hits and Josh Ryder got his first hit of the season and scored twice.

PeeWee – Liberty Lake I, Hurliman Heating and Blasingame Insurance piled up the runs, scoring 20 or more a combined eight times two weeks ago, but the latter two dropped their first games of the season last week.

Hurliman’s lost to Liberty Lake (10-0), dropping the Chester I team (8-1) a game back. Blasingame (University) was edged by surging Tom’s Barber Shop 6-5 and fell to 9-1. Tom’s (Sunrise I) is 8-2-1.

Highlights over two weeks: Liberty Lake (8-0) had a 3-for-3, 5-run effort from Zachary Stocker, who also was the winning pitcher in one win. Connor Whitney was 4-for-4 and homered in the other. Gage Engel went 4-for-6 and scored five runs in a third.

Hurliman Heating’s (7-0) Campbell Barrington had seven hits, scored seven runs and drove in nine, including two home runs during a particularly one-sided triumph. Tanner Christensen pitched no-hit, no-run ball and struck out eight. Last week Caleb Thomas homered among two hits, drove in four runs and scored twice.

Sterling Self Storage’s Caid Grytdal doubled in one game, tripled and homered to drive in four runs in a loss to Liberty Lake. Pitchers Easton and Kobe Carter combined for 12 strikeouts in one win and had seven of eight Sterling hits in another.