Central Valley beats U-Hi in softball
Carli Riordan was a ball of nerves all day.
The nerves weren’t fear-based for the Central Valley sophomore pitcher – she was excited about the Bears’ matchup with rival University. And she had even more reason to be excited after fanning the final Titans batter.
Riordan struck out nine batters, and the Bears held off a late rally by University in a 4-3 Greater Spokane League softball victory on Thursday at Central Valley.
“It’s amazing,” Riordan said. “It’s probably the best feeling, and it gives us so much confidence for the rest of the season. I’m just so happy. We haven’t beaten them in a while. I know all day I couldn’t stop moving. I was very nervous, but I was confident. It was a rush.”
The win didn’t come easy for the Bears (5-1), who gave the Titans (4-1) their first GSL loss of the season.
Trailing 4-1 in the fifth inning, University’s Brittany Connor, Alyssa Hall and Hailey Wesselman loaded the bases with no outs, all on infield ground balls that the Bears struggled to field.
Riordan struck out Brittany Hecker – who pitched for the Titans and struck out four – before giving up a double to deep left field by Karly Schuh that drove in Connor and Hall. But the Bears held on, escaping the inning with two runners left on base.
“In a rivalry game, you’ve got to deal with the emotions and I think that just kind of got the best of us – at least early in the game,” U-Hi coach Jon Schuh said. “We battled back.We had an opportunity to tie or go ahead, and we just didn’t.
“Offensively – and I’m not going to take anything away from Riordan, because she threw a good game – we just watched too many go by and you’re not going to win too many games if you’re not aggressive.”
In the top of the sixth, the Bears’ defense helped Riordan out, making three big plays that kept the Titans off the basepaths. Sandra Cleveland grounded out to CV first baseman Brittani Gilbert, and Tia Pau made a diving catch on a fly ball along third base to send the first two batters back to the dugout. On the final play, Connor bunted and CV catcher McKenzie Shea threw her out at first.
“You get some plays like that – that just kind of carry the momentum into the dugout, and it shows the heart of this team,” CV coach Joe Stanton said. “They’ve got a lot of heart.”
“That’s one of the main reasons we won this game, because they were playing behind me,” Riordan added. “I think it’s all about heart, and I think we came here today and showed a lot of it.”