Hot and cold Cards drop two of three in softball

The late season struggles continued for the Medical Lake High School softball team, who ran into another Northeast A League pitching buzzsaw.

The Cardinals (4-6 NEA, 8-7 overall) unloaded on Riverside (2-8, 3-10) for an 18-3 mercy-rule shortened game April 26, but had to face one of the top pitchers in the Northeast A League — Kylie Sweeney — twice last Saturday and lost a doubleheader to Deer Park 5-0 and 8-7 at Reinking Field in Medical Lake.

After a scoreless opening inning the Cardinals scored in the next four at bats at Riverside, including seven in the second and eight in the fifth that helped end things early.

While there were a number of bats that provided pop against the Rams, Cards’ head coach Tim Blakely singled out senior Claire Dormaier who returned to the lineup after recovering from a knee injury.

“We’ve struggled in her absence,” Blakely said. “We weren’t as solid when she was there.” Dormaier went 3 for 4 in her return.

Dormaier, who plays shortstop, was an integral part of the Medical Lake infield. “Now that she’s back everyone is in their comfortable positions,” Blakely said.

Perhaps the biggest name at the plate versus Riverside was Rachel Stanfill who went 3 for 4 with a grand slam home run. “There are no fences at Riverside but there’s not a fence in the Northeast A League that would have held that ball,” Blakely said.

Bradyn Wegner was 4 for 4 and Taylor Pavao was 3 for 4. The Cardinals’ win was their first in the last five contests.

Taylor Carpenter pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits while striking out eight.

At home versus Deer Park (5-6, 7-7), one little thing opened the door.

“We had one slip on a pitch in the first game and Kylie Sweeney hit a grand slam home run on us,” Blakely said. “We didn’t start strong in that first game with a base on balls, committed an error, a hit batter and then the grand slam.”

Sweeney had five RBIs to add to her pitching effort where she surrendered just four hits. “After the bad start the game was pretty even,” Blakely said.

In game two, Medical Lake led 4-2 on the strengths of batters like Hailey Hostetter who went 2 for 4 and a pair of RBIs. Ashlyn Tamietti, a freshman, also was 2 for 4 and Dormaier went 2 for 3.

In a schedule change, Medical Lake was at Newport this past Wednesday, May 4. That game was moved from May 5.

The Cardinals close out the regular season with Newport, Tuesday, May 10 and league-leading Colville is in town Saturday, May 14, for the season finale on Senior Day beginning at 11 a.m.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.