Summerhawks lose home game to Asotin

The Cheney 17U Summerhawks baseball team was unsuccessful in their chance for revenge against the Asotin County Blues after a 7-5 loss, June 16, in their first home game of the season. The Blues swept Cheney in a June 5 doubleheader, 11-1, 9-1.

Cheney took an early lead in the first inning after Andrew Witt hit a single to score Luke Martin. In the third, the Summerhawks boosted their lead by two runs on Matt Riggs' RBI single followed by Jacob Lauber's RBI double.

Down 3-1 in the fourth, Asotin rallied to score four runs to take the lead. Lauber hit another single to make the score 5-4 in the fifth. The Blues added two insurance runs in the sixth to secure the win.

Witt was 2 for 4 with a double and three runs scored, Devin Cook was 2 for 4 with a double and Martin was 1 for 4 with an RBI. Dylan Arthur added a hit.

Head coach Austin Sharp said he was happy with how his team performed, noting their improvement since the June 5 doubleheader.

"They've responded well to the coaching during practices," Sharp said. "Asotin is just a tough team."

Arthur (0-2) took the loss after he pitched five innings and struck out three batters. Riggs took over for two innings while Cook came on in the sixth.

Sharp commended both Arthur, who he said "pitched well," and the infield for playing "some good defense."

"It came down to a couple of hits from Asotin," Sharp said. "Riggs came in and slowed them down and Cook kept us in the game for those final outs."

The June 16 game was originally scheduled to be a doubleheader, but game two was called due to a thunderstorm. Sharp said there are no immediate plans to reschedule game two with the Blues.

"Unless Asotin is up here for the Fourth of July tournament (Wood Bat Classic), we may play them again," Sharp said. "Asotin was very competitive and we enjoyed playing them. Since we're on an independent schedule, hopefully we get to play them a lot more in the future."

The Summerhawks (0-3) travel to Ephrata to play in the High Desert Classic tournament, June 23-26.

Cheney opens the tournament against the Columbia Basin Rock Hounds today (June 23) and are scheduled to play games against Lakeside, the Northwest Blaze, the Brewster Bears and the Columbia Basin River Dogs.

"I like what we have going so far," Sharp said. "Hopefully we can get a couple of wins in Ephrata. The guys are playing well and that's what I want to see."

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.