CHENEY — Three weeks into their inaugural season, the Cheney High slowpitch softball team is still in search of its first win — and there are signs they are getting closer.
The Lady Blackhawks opened their season with a 15-3 loss at Greater Spokane League 4A powerhouse Mead on Sept. 10. The Panthers (4-0) opened a 15-1 lead through the first three innings en route to the win.
Cheney had eight hits, including a triple from Isabella King. The Lady Blackhawks also suffered defensively with six errors.
Two days later the Lady Blackhawks lost 13-12 at home to GSL 4A Gonzaga Prep, falling behind 12-1 before rallying late, including a seven-run bottom of the seventh inning. No additional stats were available.
Monday against a more traditional foe, 2A East Valley, Cheney also came up just short, losing 18-16 to a team that typically they compete well against in the Great Northern League in all other sports. The Lady Blackhawks pounded out 17 hits, and were led by Jasmine Rison, who went 3 for 4 at the plate.
Madison O’Riley was 2 for 3; Makyla Ward, Cierra Morton and Rhosewen Caskey were each 2 for 4 with Lindsay Hagreen going 2 for 2.
Despite the losses, Cheney head coach Gary Blake is happy with his team’s progress so far in their inaugural season, and sees winning possibilities ahead. Even with veteran fastpitch players on the squad, the Lady Blackhawks are still learning a lot about softball, especially the slowpitch game which has its own techniques.
One of those is patience, i.e. learning to wait on pitches. In fastpitch, hitters generally “load and start swinging when the ball is two-thirds of the way to the plate.”
In slowpitch, in order to be a strike, pitches must elevate no more than 12 feet and now less than six feet.
“The girls are swinging up at that pitch dropping down,” Blake said. “But, we’re getting so we’re not popping up so much.”
One good aspect about the Lady Blackhawks schedule is that they only play the GSL 4A schools once, while taking on the other five 2A/3A teams twice in league play. That in mind, Cheney hosted 4A Central Valley (1-0 GSL, 1-1) on Tuesday and travels to 3A Shadle Park (0-1) today (Sept. 19).
Blake believes the wins will come eventually for his new team, and is hopeful the Lady Blackhawks will find a way to be one of the four teams that should qualify for the postseason.
“I think we’ll be competitive with the other 3A, 2A teams for the most part,” he said. “As long as we’re competitive and continue to improve, we’ve got a chance.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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