If the Cheney High softball team is interested in defining that moment when they learned how to win close games, they couldn’t go wrong with last Friday’s game one of a doubleheader at West Valley. Down 5-1 against the then- Great Northern League leading Eagles, Cheney scored nine runs in the last three innings en route to a 10-8 win.
In the fourth, Meghan Krantz and Courtney Johnstone delivered RBI singles to pull Cheney within two. In the fifth, Krantz drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk to score Shelby Melton, and Johnstone gave Cheney the lead with a two-RBI single.
The Eagles regained the lead at 8-6 with three runs in the bottom of the inning. But in the seventh, Melton scored from third on a West Valley throwing error, Cheyanne Gleave tied the game with a groundout to third and Rachel Barsness and Krantz delivered back-to-back RBI singles to put Cheney up by two.
In the Eagles final at bat, Gleave just missed a 1-2-3 inning on the mound, getting the first two outs on a grounder to second and a strikeout, only to have West Valley’s third hitter reach second on a two-base error. Gleave shutdown the Eagles’ final threat by getting the next batter to pop to Johnstone at first, ending the game.
The freshman got the win to run her record to 7-7, giving up eight runs and 16 hits but more importantly to head coach Gary Blake, walking no one and issuing only one free pass by hitting a batter. Gleave also recorded four strikeouts.
“She was getting ahead in the count,” Blake added.
The Lady Blackhawks missed a chance at a possible sweep due to a severe rainstorm that blew in. Barsness gave Cheney a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the first.
Tied at one in the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles managed three runs on a two-run throwing error and an RBI single before the umpires called the game with one out and a runner on third, giving West Valley the 4-1 win.
Maddie Kallsen took the loss, although the sophomore pitched well in her longest outing of the year as she works her way back from an injury that kept her out the first three weeks of the season. Kallsen went four innings, giving up three runs, two hits while walking two, hitting two batters and striking out three, getting lifted by Gleave with two runners on in the fifth.
Cheney opened the week with an 11-1 win at home, April 19, against Clarkston in six innings. Barsness led Cheney’s 17-hit offense, going 4 for 4 with three RBIs. Gleave got the win, giving up one run on six hits, one walk, one hit by pitch and eight strikeouts.
The following day the Lady Blackhawks traveled to Deer Park to face the Stags and veteran hurler Kylie Sweeney in non-league action. The senior gave up just four hits — singles to Barsness, Alyson Dassow, Johnstone and Melton — and issued no free passes as the Northeast A League Stags knocked off Cheney 6-2.
“She just throws hard,” Blake said, although he was proud of his hitters’ approach. “She quite often strikes out 12, 14 a game. They weren’t intimidated. They went in there and took her on.”
Cheney goes to 7-5 in league, 8-8 overall. The Lady Blackhawks are third, but have the potential for big moves in the standings depending on what happens in their final four regular-season games.
A combination of wins and losses against fourth-place East Valley (April 26), Pullman (doubleheader April 29) and West Valley (Senior Day May 3) could keep the Lady Blackhawks where they are at, or move them up. Four losses, however, could allow the Knights — who have five games left — to overtake them.
“If somehow we could close out the season with two wins, we might even have a shot at a second seed,” Blake said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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