Lakeside, Colville advance to State 1A softball semifinals

Northeast A teams Lakeside and Colville reached the semifinals after each earned a pair of victories on Friday in the State 1A softball tournament in Richland.

Lakeside downed River View 9-0 in the Eagles’ opener then topped Castle Rock 6-4. Lakeside will play Connell in the semifinals. In the Eagles’ first win, Vanessa Ahrendt struck out 14 and went 4 for 4 with two stolen bases while Nikki Tiffany had a three-run home run and five RBIs. Savannah Rolston’s two-run homer in the third inning proved to be the winning runs in Lakeside’s second game. Ahrendt again picked up the win with 11 strikeouts and two more hits.

Colville moved through the other side of the bracket with a 6-2 win over Hoquiam and a 9-4 victory over Zillah in the quarterfinals. Starter Jo Rogers and reliever McKenna Cabbage combined to pitch in both wins. Colville plays Cascade (Leavenworth) today.

2B

Northwest Christian moved into the semifinals with victories over Brewster, 10-3, and Napavine, 5-3.

Hayden Smith went 2 for 4 with a triple and three runs in the win over Brewster. Smith and Sarah Miller each scored a pair runs against Napavine. Hannah Hustad pitched both wins, including a 15-strikeout performance in the win over Brewster.

Colfax used an 11-run fourth-inning in their five-inning, 16-3 win over La Conner in the Bulldogs’ opener. Samantha Pearson and Lauren Moore both picked up three hits. Colfax fell to DeSales 9-5 in its second game and will play Warden today.

Kettle Falls was shut out by Toutle Lake 12-0 before bouncing back for a 13-11 win over Kittitas to reach today’s consolation quarterfinal against Napavine. The Bulldogs scored five runs in the top of the seventh then survived Kittitas’ four-run reply.

1B

Colton and Almira/Coulee-Hartline will meet for the state championship again after they both scored a pair of victories in Yakima.

Colton, which defeated the Warriors for their third consecutive state championship last year, downed Curlew 13-3 in an opener with Kaitlin Druffel going 3 for 3 and then blanked Wishkah Valley 10-0 behind Taylor Nilson’s no-hitter and Carrie Hennigar’s 3-for-3, three-RBI effort.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline collected only seven hits but used them effectively in a 12-2 victory over Quilcene in which Madeline Isaak struck out 10 and Karlee Martin went 2 for 4 with three runs scored. ACH then edged Touchet 5-4 to reach the championship game as Isaak again pitched in the win and had two RBIs.

Touchet topped Selkirk 11-1 in a five-inning game, but the Rangers bounced back behind Kirbi Anderson’s one-hitter to beat Quilcene 10-0 in a five-inning game and will play Wishkah Valley today in the consolation semifinals. That winner will play the winner of Curlew vs. Touchet. Curlew defeated Klickitat 20-13 in its second game which featured a seven-run sixth inning that broke the game open as the Cougars collected 20 hits.