Cheney players (left to right) Kara Johnstone, Rachel Barsness, Logan Krantz, Meghan Krantz (18), Maria Guglielmo and Shelby Melton havae a discussion at the pitching circle during the Lady Blackhawks disastrous second inning against visiting East Valley-Yakima in regional play Monday.
Sports are filled with highs and lows, and the Cheney High School softball team experienced both within the space of six days.
Last Wednesday, the Lady Blackhawks climbed to the pinnacle of success - and in the process likely further fueled their rivalry with Great Northern League foe West Valley - by winning a third consecutive District 7 title. Cheney rallied in the sixth inning for an eventual 15-13 win, marking the second year in a row they've denied the Millwood school the district's top seed to regional glue-in competition.
That glue-in game with Central Washington Athletic Conference No. 4 East Valley-Yakima on Monday, postponed from Saturday by rain, might have been the lowest point for Cheney this season. The Lady Blackhawks committed physical and mental errors in a season-ending 10-1 loss.
"We just didn't play our best game today," Cheney head coach Gary Blake said Monday night.
Alex Morrison's two-out double to center gave East Valley-Yakima the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but in the second, the Red Devils ran wild.
Cheney starting pitcher Maria Guglielmo had tough luck handling a couple balls hit at her, and her teammates compounded the miscues by forgetting some of the basics of softball, like covering bases. East Valley-Yakima's aggressive base running capitalized on the mistakes that, along with timely hits, enabled the Red Devils to score five runs for a 6-0 lead.
Cheney didn't quit. Down 10-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Rachel Barsness dropped a single into shallow center, stole second, and scored on an error by East Valley-Yakima third base Maria Garza on Guglielmo's grounder.
Maddie Kallsen kept the rally going with a single to center, but Red Devil's starting pitcher Stephanie Thorson got the next three batters to groundout, pop-out and strikeout, ending the threat.
Cheney's potent offense struggled with Thorson all afternoon. Blake said the senior doesn't throw a rise ball, but a fast ball that starts low and ends with an upward trajectory.
"To be successful, you need to lay off the high pitches early in the count," he said he told his players.
Cheney had trouble doing that, striking out nine times. Kallsen had two of their five hits, with Barsness and Meghan and Logan Krantz one each.
Last Wednesday's game at West Valley was a different story as the teams engaged in a slugfest emblematic of their three regular-season meetings - all won by West Valley. Cheney took a 9-4 lead with five runs in the fourth, sparked by home runs by Kallsen and Meghan Krantz.
West Valley rallied for a 13-11 lead with seven runs in the fifth. Cheney responded with four runs in the sixth on a two-RBI single by Kallsen and RBI doubles by the Krantz sisters, holding the Eagles scoreless in their final two at bats for the win.
Cheney finished the season at 17-6 overall. With four-year starter Barsness being the only senior, the Lady Blackhawks still have a promising future ahead, and some continuing incentives.
"Their primary goal was to make it back to state," Blake said. "We weren't able to do that. We also wanted to win 75 percent of our games, and at 17-6, we came up one game short. But we're still a very young team. 17-6 is a pretty good season."
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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