Cheney's Meghan Krantz (18) and Maddie Kallsen take their leads from first and second base during the third inning of the Lady Blackhawks first game with visiting West Valley
See a photo gallery from the event here.
Sometimes, you just have one of those days.
For Cheney High softball coach Gary Blake, that pretty much sums up his Lady Blackhawks experience last Saturday as Great Northern League leader West Valley blew into town for a doubleheader. The Eagles left with a pair of convincing wins, thwarting Cheney's bid to replace them atop the league standings and in search of a little refocusing.
West Valley jumped to an 8-0 in game one, and after a Cheney rally cut the lead to two, did their best impersonation of the Roadrunner leaving the Coyote in the dust with nine runs in the sixth for an 18-7 win. It was the first time the Lady Blackhawks had been 10-runned since Pullman did it on April 29 last year.
West Valley pounded nine doubles, three in the first inning leading to five runs. Cheney rallied in the bottom of the third, getting a leadoff single by Logan Krantz and three straight walks by Eagles' pitcher Jocelyn Taylor to plate their first run. Maria Guglielmo followed with a grounder up the middle that managed to escape the infield and bring home two more runs.
Rachel Barsness followed with an RBI single, and after a strikeout, Maddie Kallsen and Meghan Krantz each singled to left to bring home two more runs before West Valley ended the threat.
Cheney had a couple chances to get closer. West Valley left fielder Kilee Imada made a diving catch to rob Kara Johnstone of a likely double off the fence to start the fourth inning. The Lady Blackhawks put runners on first and third with two outs in the fifth, trailing 8-6, but subsequently groundout to short.
Guglielmo pitched well in relief of Kallsen, coming on with one out in the second. But in the top of the sixth, a two-out Cheney error opened the door for nine runs - all of which were unearned, Blake said.
Game two proved to be a slugfest, with both teams combining for 38 runs on 45 hits. In fact, pitching took a beating on both sides, with 76 total hits pounded out.
"Neither team had great pitching going on," Blake said. "They just hit us better than we hit them."
Kallsen took the loss in game one while Guglielmo got the loss in game two. Both players pitched in both games.
Barsness led Cheney offensively with six hits on the afternoon, while Alyson Dassow, Logan Krantz and Guglielmo both had four and Johnstone, Kallsen and Meghan Krantz each had three. Johnstone, Kallsen and Meghan and Logan Krantz each had two RBIs in game two, with Guglielmo and Barsness one a piece.
To accentuate both teams' pitching issues, Blake noted Cheney batters only struck out five times all afternoon. The difference seemed to be Cheney's hits went right to Eagles' fielders, while West Valley's found the gaps.
Cheney falls to 8-3 in GNL play, 14-5 overall with one game remaining, Tuesday's match up at third-place East Valley. The Lady Blackhawks will face fifth-seed Clarkston on Saturday in an opening round playoff game.
Blake believes his team will bounce back, and was impressed by the way they kept hammering away at West Valley's lead in game two. For him, there's a silver lining to second place - Cheney could have two games to stay sharp over the next week while league-champ West Valley will be cooling their heels awaiting their District 7 title game opponent.
"Let's not focus specifically on winning," Blake said he told the team. "Let's focus on playing our best game."
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
See a photo gallery from the event here.
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