Shadle Park disptaches nemesis Kamaikin to win 3A softball regional

Shadle Park is heading to the State 3A softball tournament with the monkey off its back.

The Highlanders drubbed Kamiakin 14-3 in the 3A regional championship game on Saturday at University High School, advancing to the 3A state tournament as the region’s No. 1 seed for the first time since 2009.

Beating Kamiakin, which won three straight 3A state championships from 2012-2014 and topped Shadle Park 3-0 in last year’s regional championship game, means advancing to state is even sweeter for the Highlanders.

“That’s one of the best games we’ve played all year,” said Guy Perham, head coach at Shadle Park. “You usually go through (Kamiakin) to get to state … For the 3As, they are the benchmark for the Tri-Cities area.”

Jaya Allen picked up the win for the Highlanders, and shut down the Braves for five innings before surrendering three runs in the sixth inning.

“She’s the MVP of the league, and she played like it today,” Perham said. “She kept a really good-hitting team off-balance until the last inning.”

Allen gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out nine, in addition to going 2 for 4 at the plate with a home run and two RBIs. Melina Mendoza was also 2 for 4 and drove in four runs for the Highlanders.

Madison Matthews went 2 for 3 with two RBIs to lead the Braves offense.

After breezing past Kamiakin in regionals, Shadle Park’s confidence could not be any higher.

“We’re just going to step up our game even more than we already have,” Allen said. “We’re going to see better teams at state, but we are ready for it.”

Mt. Spokane 13, Kamiakin 1: The Wildcats whacked the Braves in a winner-to-state, loser-out game.

Mt. Spokane defeated Hanford 9-3 earlier in the day to move on to face Kamiakin.

“It just makes you tougher,” Mt. Spokane coach Carl Adams said about playing two straight elimination games. “We’ve been working on mental toughness all year and trying to fight through situations. It showed up big for us today.”

The Wildcats advance to the state playoffs as a No. 2 seed.