A Saturday trip to Colville might have been a bit too early for the Cheney High softball team to return to from spring break.
And maybe it was the wrong opponent. The Lady Hawks committed an uncharacteristic five errors, almost double the number committed in their first six games, and couldn’t find a way to get to Indians ace McKenna Cabbage, falling in doubleheader action 9-1 and 12-2.
Two of those errors came in the second inning of game one, putting the first two Colville runners on base. A walk loaded the bases and the Indians capitalized on the opportunity to score seven runs on six hits in the inning.
Cheney’s lone score came in their final at bat in the seventh on Bailey Towey’s RBI single scoring Cheyenne Wright. Julia Boyd (4-2) took the loss on the mound, relieved by Towey in the second. Adriana Suiter, Amy Anderson and Shayleah Turner also contributed singles offensively.
Head coach Gary Blake thought the Lady Hawks might do better in the second game, taking an early 1-0 lead on Suiter’s RBI single in the top of the first to score Rachel Barsness. Colville responded with one in the bottom of the first and second, and two in the third before the flood gates opened against starting pitcher Towey, scoring seven runs – five earned – on eight hits and one Cheney error.
Cheney appeared poised for a rally in the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out on back-to-back singles from Wright and Barsness followed by a walk to Towey, but only managed one run on Suiter’s one-out sacrifice fly. Colville (9-0, 10-0) scored one run in the bottom of the sixth to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
In a reverse of game one, Towey (1-2) took the loss on the mound, with Boyd relieving her in the fourth. Barsness (2), Suiter, Turner and Wright all had singles for the Lady Hawks.
“We just didn’t play very well,” Blake said. “We have never done particularly well coming out of spring break.”
The losses drop Cheney (4-3, 5-3) into third place in the Great Northern League, a half game behind East Valley (4-2, 4-4). The Lady Hawks have plenty of softball left to get into a good playoff position, beginning with three games this week.
Cheney hosted winless Pullman, and travels to sixth-place West Valley (2-5, 4-5) for a doubleheader Saturday. Wednesday’s game was the first this season with the Greyhounds while the Saturday contests completes the season series with the Eagles, who lost to Cheney 20-1 April 3 but were without four starters.
Blake said he told his team they got their “rears kicked” last Saturday. He doesn’t think the Lady Hawks will dwell much on what happened at Colville, however, and should be back into the winning rhythm they had prior to the break.
“The key thing is how well we come back and play this week,” he added.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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