Chewelah continues to be the poison pill for Medical Lake softball in the Northeast A League. But at least the Cardinals survived and came through their week with a 2-1 record, staying in the league race.
After suffering a 14-8 loss at home to the Cougars (2-2 NEA, 7-3 overall) April 12, the Cards had a fine Friday with a sweep of Freeman 11-1 in five innings in the opener and 13-7 in game two.
Errors had been an area at which head coach Tim Blakely could point to in the past when his team lost.
“The errors weren’t so much a factor as they came out and got 17 hits on us,” Blakely said as the Cougars used their bats well and had timely hitting.
“When the moon and stars are aligned it’s kind of hard,” Blakely said. “We didn’t hit the ball well either, we left quite a few runners on base.”
Once again Medical Lake (2-2, 6-3) had trouble figuring out Chewelah’s ace, Jaelynn Skok. They had nine hits, but three came from the bat of Rachael Stanfill. Taylor Campbell had a three-RBI triple for the Cards.
“You’ve got to hand it to the other pitcher, she threw a great game,” Blakely said of Skok, who earlier shut down the Cards, giving up just five hits in a 4-2 win, March 31.
Hitting and pitching came together at home versus Freeman in a doubleheader that was a moving target just to get into the scorebook.
The game was to have been played in Freeman last Saturday, but the Scotties first had issues with finding players. The teams tried Thursday, but Freeman’s field “was a mess” after early rains so the game was moved to Medical Lake, Blakely said.
“Our fields were highly playable,” he added.
A close game in the opener, which was tied 1-1 through 3 1/2 innings fell apart in the bottom of the fourth when Medical Lake scored four runs. They got to end it early with a six-run fifth. “We jumped on them, it was kind of a so-so game through three innings,” Blakely said, referring to the 10-run mercy rule that ended it after five innings.
Sarah Meyer had three hits for Medical Lake, including her first career home run. However, freshman Ashlyn Tamietti just might have one-upped her teammate with an inside-the-park round-tripper.
“Ashlyn is probably our quickest on the base paths,” Blakely said. “She never let off the gas, she just kept it going, a stand-up in-the-parker.”
“I’ve got to hand it to Bradyn Wegner, she only gave up four hits in the first game,” Blakely said.
Taylor Carpenter had two hits and four RBIs in the second game while Hailey Hostetter added three hits. Medical Lake rallied from a 5-run deficit scoring eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Cardinals hosted Riverside this past Tuesday and host defending NEA champs and current co-league leading Lakeside (3-1, 7-2) in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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