Liberty Christian tops ACH to win title

YAKIMA – After knocking off nemesis Colton in the semifinals on Friday night, Almira/Coulee-Hartline ran into an equally determined foe on Saturday at the Kiwanis Park and fell to Liberty Christian 10-2 in the State 1B softball title game.

The Patriots jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and the Warriors couldn’t recover. By the time ACH got two runs on the board in the third inning, the Warriors were staring at an 8-0 deficit.

“We came out prepared and ready to go,” Warriors coach Andy Boyd said. “We made a couple errors and that put us in a position of having to play catch-up.

“When you give them five extra outs over a couple of innings, that makes it hard.”

The Warriors have won trophies in six consecutive state tournaments dating to 2010. The title-game loss is the fourth since 2011.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline had chances in the 90-degree heat, leaving seven runners stranded on base including four in scoring position.

“We came out and played really hard,” Boyd. “We just didn’t take advantage of the chances we had.”

Colton, meanwhile, had only a home run by Rachel Meyer against Quilcene until the seventh inning and lost to the Rangers 10-4, finishing fourth.

The Wildcats finished outside the top two for the first time since 2006.

The Wildcats played without standout Zoe Moser, who normally alternates pitching and playing third base. That placed the pitching burden on Winnie Schultheis who performed capably.

Curlew had the unfortunate consolation bracket luck to draw Colton coming of its stunning semifinal loss to ACH.

The Wildcats made short work of the Cougars, slugging six extra-base hits and winning 10-0 in five innings.

1A

Hailey Lesser drove in two runs and made a diving catch in right field to end the game as Lakeside took third place at the 1A tournament with a 7-4 win over Connell at Columbia Playfields in Richland.

Lakeside’s McKensie Brittos, Maddie Lesser and Randi Zaro each added two hits and an RBI. Brittos went the distance on the mound. It was her sixth straight complete game.

The Eagles made it to the consolation final with wins over La Center and Chelan.

2B

Colfax worked its way through a grueling elimination bracket gantlet, winning twice before losing to 2013-14 champion Toutle Lake and falling one game short of the third-place game, 14-4.

The Bulldogs eliminated Warden 7-0 and Dayton 10-7 before losing to the Ducks.

Erica Eng was tenacious and determined in the pitching circle for Colfax, throwing all 19 innings in the three games.