Lady Blackhawks win first District 7 title

Back to back home runs helped lift the Cheney High softball team to its first District 7 title with an 8-3 win last Saturday over visiting Pullman. The win gives the Lady Blackhawks the district's top seed into the regional round of play, setting up one more home game this Saturday with the Central Washington Athletic Conference's No. 3 seed for a chance to play in the 2A state tournament.

After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, Cheney loaded the bases with two outs in their first at bat but couldn't push a run across. In the second, Cheyenne Hanson drew a lead off walk, reached third on Courtney Johnstone's sacrifice bunt and Cassie Schliep's bouncing single to center and scored on Rachel Barsness's groundout to third. Cheyenne Wright then gave Cheney a lead it would never lose with an RBI double to right center, scoring Schliep.

In the bottom of the third, Meghan Krantz put Cheney up 3-1 with a monster solo home run way over the fence in center, and Julia Boyd followed with what would prove to be the game winner - a line drive home run over the fence in left. With two outs, Johnstone singled and Schliep brought her home with an RBI double.

The Lady Blackhawks gave themselves additional insurance in the sixth with an RBI double by Krantz and RBI singles from Schliep and Barsness. Offensively, Krantz went 3 for 4 overall, with Schliep 3 for 3 while Maddie Kallsen and Wright both went 2 for 4.

Boyd got the win on the mound, pitching seven innings and giving up three runs, one earned, on two hits while walking three and striking out 10. Cheney committed three errors in the field, with two leading to Greyhound runs in the fourth and sixth innings.

Lady Blackhawks head coach Gary Blake was pleased with his team's performance overall. While the fielding was a bit shaky, possibly from the extended time off Cheney received after winning the Great Northern League season title, the offense and pitching were sound against a much-improved Pullman squad.

"They gave us a good game," Blake said.

Cheney improves to 19-2, and again is playing the extended waiting game as the CWAC holds its post-season tournament this week. Selah, Othello and Ellensburg all ended the season with identical 16-3 records, splitting doubleheaders between each other that forced a tiebreaker settled by a pre-season numbers drawing.

Selah earned the No. 1 seed, with Ellensburg No. 2 and Othello No. 3. They are joined by East Valley, Ephrata and Quincy, none of whom earned victories in the regular season against the top-three schools.

Blake said they won't know Cheney's opponent until Thursday, and he intends to head south to do some scouting that day. The Lady Blackhawks are hitting a whopping .452 for the season, outscoring opponents 289-88, and are enjoying solid pitching and pretty good defense.

Even so, Blake thinks that whomever the Lady Blackhawks draw, they will likely be playing one of the better teams Cheney has seen this season in another win or go home game.

"As long as they (Cheney) don't get overconfident, and go out and play good ball, I'm OK with whatever happens," he said.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.