March 18 recap: DeSales Catholic School baseball team wins at Borleske

Malachi Raymond had three hits to pace DeSales Catholic School's varsity baseball team Tuesday, March 18, as the Irish knocked off College Place High with a 10-2 win at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla.

Victory made the Irish's win-loss record so far this season 3-0 while the Hawks, coming away with their second setback Tuesday in their Walla Walla twin bill — they had fallen earlier that afternoon when a Union High team up from Oregon handed them a 13-4 loss next door at the DeSales campus venue — came away 2-3.

Among other highlights for the Irish was Billy Holtzinger finishing the night with two hits in his four at-bats while teammates Sal Sisk, Hudson Hall, Mateo Jimenez, Javier Guizar and Tyce Wood each drove home a run.

Each of the first three innings saw the Irish plate at least one run, mounting a 6-0 lead before College Place made a sent in the scoreboard. 

The Hawks would wrap up their busy day with Parker Ott having produced five hits.

But the first game also saw the Hawks struggle to get on the scoreboard until its fifth inning after they had already fallen into a 6-0 hole. 

WA-HI 7-10, PENDLETON 5-11 — The Blue Devils settled for a doubleheader split as they pounded out 19 hits on the day beginning their season on the road.

A rollercoaster second game went to the bottom of its sixth inning with the Blue Devils, closing in on a sweep after they had already bested the opener, up 10-5 before their lead unraveled.

The first game had seen the Blue Devils rally in its sixth inning, erasing a 2-1 deficit with four runs before they held on for the win.

JOSEPH 15, WESTON-McEWEN 2 — The TigerScots were upended in their season opener after the bottom of its first inning had seen them cut their deficit in half when Tim Taylor doubled home a run before the game turned into a rout at their venue in Athena.

Action would be suspended in the sixth inning due to the mercy rule.

LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 12-15, DAYTON 1-0 — The Bulldogs suffered back-to-back losses on the road at a season-opening Washington Interscholastic Activities Assocation District 6 Southeast 1B Conference twin bill in Tri-Cities.

PRAIRIE 14, POMEROY 5 — The Pirates (0-2) came away from an extra-innings marathon defeated as they fell in the ninth despite teammates Cesar Morphin, Gunner Magill, Jett Slusser, Lincoln Lovgren and Nolan Newberg each having chalked up a hit at their home venue.

Back-and-forth action went to its sixth inning with the Pirates up 5-4 before things the tables turned on them.

"Loss in extra innings, tight game obviously until that point," Pirates coach Kyler Lovgren stated. "We gained some needed experience with situational baseball. The Prairie team did a good job capitalizing when their runners were on base, playing aggressively, squeezing guys, stealing, hit and runs, etc. 

"We need to just keeping on working and learning."

Softball

PENDLETON 14, WA-HI 1 — The Blue Devils (1-1) suffered a setback as they were limited to three hits in Walla Walla at Murr Sports Park.

Midway through the fourth inning, the Blue Devils already trailed 13-0 before they scored their run as Addie Bowen raced home while Aliyah Larios-Flores stole second base after she had doubled leading things off before advancing to third base when Anna Delarosa singled to left.

McLOUGHLIN 8, BAKER 6 — The Pioneers prevailed in their season opener as Allie Sasser chalked up two hits and two runs batted in at their home venue in Milton-Freewater.

Among other highlights for the Pioneers were teammates Addyson Leonetti, Aisling Giguiere and Ella Burwell each adding two more hits.

The Pioneers, already having jumped ahead with a run in the bottom of the first inning, went to the seventh up 8-3 before closing out the win.

WESTON-McEWEN 12, COLLEGE PLACE 7 — The TigerScots, out of Athena, bested their season opening road trip as Lily Langford went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs batted in while teammate Ava Sams was 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI's in College Place.

Among other highlights for the TigerScots was pitcher Brielle Ward chalking up 14 strikeouts.

The game was midway through its third inning with the TigerScots already up 7-0 before the Hawks made their first dent in the scoreboard, and Weston-McEwen held on to the end despite College Place having rallied in the sixth back to within a run.

"The weather was great for an early season game — this one traded momentum several times — but we were fortunate to make the last run and get the win," TigerScots coach Jeff Griggs stated. "We are a very young team this year in spots and have had to fill key positions from last year.

"I was proud of how the team rallied to offer run support for the home seventh. We see that we have much to work on and lots to learn so we can be better going forward."

Among highlights for the Hawks (1-2) was Carli Ray hitting a home run while teammate Adrienne Berube tripled and chalked up two RBI's, and Chuck Amick went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI.

"This was a fairly good early season ball game between two good teams," Hawks coach Corey Davis stated. "Their pitcher threw hard, and we didn’t adjust to the velocity as well as I had hoped we would.

"Overall, this game was good for us.  We will work on cleaning some things up defensively and in the circle as well as at the plate."

DeSALES 16-20, KIONA-BENTON 11-20 — The Irish (3-0-1) started the doubleheader victorious before its second game, a high-scoring slugfest, was suspended after five innings with both teams even as Addison Mason finished the day 5-for-7 with a home run as well as two doubles and six RBI's while Roslyn Block was 6-for-9 with two doubles and five RBI's on their campus in Walla Walla.

Among other highlights for the Irish was Caroline Kutsch going 4-for-8 with a triple and four RBI's, Heidi Scott 4-for-8 with a double and four RBI's, and Teresa Holtzinger 4-for-8 with two doubles and four RBI's.

LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 13-15, DAYTON 3-7 — The Bulldogs suffered back-to-back losses despite Cindi Howard going 4-for-6 with a double and an RBI while teammate Marissa Tupling was 3-for-6 with two RBI's on the road as they started this season with an SE1B twin bill in Tri-Cities.

Among other highlights for the Bulldogs was Teagan Culley hustling out her triple as well as Alexa Jones hitting a double.

The second game went to the bottom of its second inning with the Bulldogs, after the opener had turned into a rout, up 5-1 before things unraveled on them. 

Boys soccer

LEWIS & CLARK 5, WA-HI 0 — The Blue Devils (1-1) were defeated up in Spokane.

Halftime had the Blue Devils already trailing 2-0.

Boys tennis

WA-HI 4, MOUNT SPOKANE 3 — The Blue Devils (3-0) prevailed with the doubles tandem of Owen Wells and Simon Unck chalking up a win while teammates Luke Higgins, Micah Eggart and Felix Leise each bested their respective singles match in Walla Walla.

Six matches had already been completed with the two sides even when Leise lifted the Blue Devils to victory, besting a third-set tiebreaker.

"That's a lot on your shoulders, to know its 3-3 and everything comes down to your match as a 15-year-old," Blue Devils coach Bryan Eggart said. "That's tough. I'm super proud of his effort. He just stayed in the fight, continued to fight for us the whole way, and got the win for the team." 

Golf

COLLEGE PLACE, in WALLA WALLA — Hawks competing at Veterans Memorial Course featured Gemma Morell finishing atop the girls leaderboard as she completed the 18 holes on 104 strokes, her new personal best, while the boys had Clark Fairbanks leading the way as he placed fifth with his 103 in a WIAA Division 5 South Central Athletic Conference meet also including both Royal and Wahluke.