Lady Blackhawks fall at Pullman, split at East Valley

For Cheney High's Cheyanne Gleave, the 2016 season has been a baptism of fire.

The Lady Blackhawks freshman hurler has pitched most of the innings, including 19 and 2/3s of Cheney's 22 in last week's games at Pullman and East Valley. The Lady Blackhawks went 1-2 in Great Northern League action, losing at Pullman and settling for a split at East Valley.

Cheney's undoing at Pullman came in the fourth inning as the Greyhounds broke open a 4-1 game with seven runs on five hits, three walks and one hit batter. Lady Blackhawks head coach Gary Blake said Gleave recovered well from her struggles, blanking Pullman from there including a three-pitch, three-out fifth.

Down 11-1 and facing the 10-run rule, Cheney extended the game in the top of the fifth on Meghan Krantz's RBI single. The Blackhawks mounted a rally in their final at bat, but came up short in the 11-4 loss.

Allyson Dassow (two RBIs), Gleave and Maddie Kallsen each had two hits. Gleave went the distance, giving up 11 runs on 13 hits, four walks a hit batter and five strikeouts.

Cheney put up 14 hits in game one against the Knights, breaking open a 5-4 game with five runs in the fourth and three in the fifth when Krantz went deep for her third home run of the season, hanging on for the 14-9 win.

Gleave went 4 for 5, Krantz was 2 for 4 with five RBIs, Courtney Johnstone was 2 for 5 and three RBIs and Courtney Hanson went 2 for 5 to pace the Lady Blackhawks at the plate. Gleave went the distance for her fifth win, giving up nine runs - three earned - on 10 hits, two walks, four hit batters and seven strikeouts.

In game two the Knights tossed something new at Cheney - freshman pitcher Shaelen Thompson. Blake said he had never seen the new hurler, who had a low release on a pitch that eventually ended high in the strike zone.

Blake said it wasn't a rise ball, but just a matter of trajectory. It frustrated Cheney hitters, who either popped out or flied out in 19 of their 27 total outs for the game.

"For the first five innings my batters could not lay off that high pitch," Blake said.

Meanwhile, Cheney gave up two runs in the second and one in the third to fall behind 3-0. Kallsen started the game but struggled in the second, giving up five consecutive walks, and was lifted for Gleave with one out.

In the sixth, Cheney finally zeroed in on Thompson. Dassow singled with one out, and after Hanson struck out, Shelby Melton reached on an East Valley error and Kallsen put the Lady Blackhawks on the board with an RBI single. Kara Johnstone then tied the game on a two-run double.

The game stayed tied through regulation. In the eighth, Hanson led off with a double, and with two outs, Kara Johnstone gave Cheney its first lead with an RBI single.

Gleave then doubled and Rachel Barsness made it 5-3 with an RBI single scoring Courtney Johnstone. But Cheney couldn't hold the lead for the sweep as East Valley tied the game in the bottom of the inning on Taylor Rebman's two-RBI double, and won it 6-5 in the ninth on Kendall Brown's RBI single.

Barsness was 3 for 5 at the plate with an RBI, with Kara Johnstone, Gleave and Hanson all 2 for 5, with Johnstone notching three RBIs. Gleave fell to 5-6 on the year, giving up three earned runs on six hits, five walks and two hit batters while striking out eight over 6 2/3 innings. Overall, the freshman made a total of 268 pitches on the afternoon.

Cheney enters the final round of league play with games against Clarkston and West Valley (doubleheader) this week. The Lady Blackhawks are currently third in playoff seeding, a place Blake thinks isn't too bad come the post season.

"If you can put it all together in districts, you'll have a shot to go on to that glue-in game and a shot at state," he said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].