Medical Lake softball wins some, loses some

The Medical Lake softball crew went 2 for 2 in their last four as the late-starting season advances with plenty of doubleheaders to make up for lost time.

Lakeside vs. Medical Lake

The Lakeside Knights (5-2, 3-0) gave it to the Medical Lake softball crew in an 11-4 rout at home on Wednesday, April 10, scoring off of nine hits while taking advantage of six Cardinal errors, according to head coach Tim Blakely.

"Our defense let us down," Blakely said. "We had six errors."

Lakeside brought their 11 runs off nine hits, while the Cards had only four runs off 11 "untimely" hits.

"We didn't get them when we needed them," Blakely said.

Three players hit .500, Blakely said. Kaylee Thompson, Hayley Musser and Suzanne Shores each went 2 for 4 at the plate.

Medical Lake vs. Newport

The Cards turned the victory table against Newport (0-4, 0-4) the next day when they beat the visiting Grizzlies in an 11-1 pounding.

"Our pitching was really good," Blakely said. "We only allowed three hits the whole game."

It helped that nine of the Cards 11 runs occurred in the first inning, giving them some home team breathing room for the remaining five innings. But their bats remained silent after that until the Cards scored another two runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 10-run rule victory.

Hailee Deshazer pitched a complete, six-inning game, including two strikeouts for the win.

Lakeland vs. Medical Lake double header

Medical Lake hit the road on Friday, April 12 to split the wins in a doubleheader against the Lakeland Hawks (4-9, 1-1) in non-league action.

Lakeland won the first game decisively in a 12-2 romp.

"We just could not get our bats going," Blakely said.

The Card offense brought in two runs in the first inning, then "blanked out," Blakely said, with only one other hit for the remainder of the five inning game.

Shores pitched into the third, when she was relieved by Maddie McDowell for the remainder of the game.

Both teams recorded two errors apiece.

The second game went more in the Cards favor offensively in a 17-10 win.

"They finally woke up," Blakely said of his offense. "We started out hot."

Medical Lake came out swinging in the first inning, bringing in six runs, followed by another three in the second, and so on in every inning, in the end collecting 17 hits with only two errors.

Allie Duncan went 4 for 5, scoring three times with 2 RBIs. Ashlyn Tamietti scored twice, going 3 for 4 at the plate, Shores had two doubles, going 4 for 4, with three RBIs.

The Card softball crew is 1-3 in Northeast A league play and 2-4 overall. As of press time they were scheduled to be on the road against Freeman (3-2), followed by another double header in Riverside (1-2) today, and another DH in Reardan (3-3) Friday. The following week it's red hot Colville (4-0) on Tuesday, April 23, then Deer Park (4-5) on April 25.

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.