By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Ending a season is never easy, especially if the end comes in a playoff game that should have been won.
The Cheney softball team ended their 2007 season with such a game, committing four errors leading to three unearned runs in a 4-2 Great Northern League opening-round playoff game loss last Saturday at Clarkston.
Two of those errors came in the Bantams' three-run fifth inning, enabling them to overcome the Lady Hawks 2-1 lead.
A lead off throwing error, followed by a single, and then another throwing error led to one run and runners on second and third. The Bantams then used a ground out, and a sacrifice fly to bring the other those two runners home.
“We should have been out of it in four batters,” Cheney head coach Gary Blake said.
Cheney took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Chelsea Lowe smashed a single towards right-centerfield that glanced off the Bantam second baseman's glove and into right field, allowing Casey Alderman to race home for the score.
The Lady Hawks gave starting pitcher Jessi Labish another run to work with in the fourth when Alicia Morrow singled to left to score Jenna Hatch, who was running for Labish after the senior opened the inning with a double.
Clarkston's only earned run came in the bottom of the fourth on a little flare hit to center that dropped just in front of the Cheney fielder for an RBI single.
Cheney out hit Clarkston 10-5, with Labish going 3-for-4 with two singles and a double. Lowe and Morrow also had a pair of hits each, with Schoengold, Kaitlyn Proctor and Alderman contributing singles.
Labish had an excellent game on the mound, Blake said, and pitched well enough to record a shutout, striking out four and walking only one. Blake said she has always had a good strikeout to walk ratio, but gets into trouble when she gets up in the zone.
“We worked all week on keeping the ball down, and she did,” he said, adding that with the rare exception when he would call for a high one, most of Labish's pitches weren't more than a few inches above the Bantam hitters' knees.
Blake said senior catcher Cami Hatch also had a good game, allowing no passed balls while Clarkston had runners on base.
Cheney finished the season with a 3-11 GNL mark, 6-15 overall. While an improvement over previous years, Blake said he felt heading into the campaign that the Lady Hawks were at least a .500 team capable of finishing in the top half of the league.
What hurt Cheney was errors. Blake said the miscues were pretty much spread around, with one player making several mistakes one week, but then playing flawlessly after that while someone else had troubles.
The Lady Hawks will lose the services of Labish, Hatch and Morrow to graduation, but should have seven juniors back for the 2008 campaign.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com
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