Cards top N.W. Christian, earn Great Northern League split with East Valley
By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
There may indeed be a glimmer of light at the end of the softball tunnel for Medical Lake.
After weeks of watching leads disappear and agonizing defeats result, the Cardinals capped last week with a pair of victories, something they've not experienced in a few years.
“It was a pretty good week for considering the first three weeks,” head coach John Higgins said of Medical Lake's 7-5 non-league win over Northwest Christian last Tuesday and their Great Northern League split at East Valley Saturday where they dropped the opener 6-2 but won 5-2 in game two.
The wins moved the Cardinals' record to 2-8 in league play and 3-9 overall. They hosted Deer Park (5-4, 6-5) this past Tuesday and Clarkston (5-4, 5-4) Thursday at 2 p.m. at Reinking Field.
In toppling the second place Knights (6-4, 7-5) in game two, Medical Lake jumped off to a 4-0 lead after the first inning. Medical Lake employed some unique strategy in game two and scored all the runs they'd need by laying down a few key bunts. “The ball never went out of the infield,” Higgins said.
Higgins could not say enough about his defense Saturday at East Valley. The two miscues were tough plays where the Knights had hard-hit balls down the third-base line that were judged playable but were tagged for errors at the same time.
Kelsey Fisk threw a complete game in surrendering four hits, most everything on the ground. And when she did make a rare mistake she had help.
The Knights got their two runs in the bottom of the sixth after two outs. Medical Lake then got a potential game-saving catch in the outfield from Paige Propeck in right-center field to help quell the rally before it started.
EV pounded out 16 hits in the opener, but only got six runs thanks to some key throws for outs. One runner was cut down trying to stretch a double into a triple.
For the second game in the week ML played error-free ball Saturday in the nightcap, something they had only done once previously this season. “We laid off the errors, which has really been killing us,” Higgins said. “If we just play mentally the way we're supposed to play then we're usually in pretty good shape.”
In Tuesday's Northwest Christian game the Cardinals again got a big early lead. Kat Campbell provided the key hit, a double that drove in Fisk and Nikki King. “She did pretty good,” Higgins said of Campbell.
“Then we just kind of pecked away,” Higgins said as Medical Lake scored single runs in the next four innings. One of those runs, however, came on Campbell's other big hit, the home run that flew over the fence in right-center field in the fourth inning.
The Cards added another pair of doubles, Higgins said, with both King and Makenzie Biesecker getting extra-base hits.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)