Saturday, May 18, 2019

Hensley's pinch-hit homer lifts Tritons past Hawks

SPOKANE -- The Edmonds CC softball team erased an early deficit to defeat Columbia Basin College 7-6 in their first game at the NWAC Championship Tournament on Saturday.

Rhilmina Sagapolutele & Chantelle Shimabukuro
Photo by Dan Acosta
The Hawks used a leadoff walk and bunt base hit to jump start their offense in the top of the 1st. After Tritons' catcher Prestyne Kaimi-Montira back-picked a Hawks runner at second base to record the first out of the inning, the Hawks cleanup hitter Kylie Koszykowski cashed in two runs with a double down the left field line. Edmonds got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Shanelle Lum lined one into left field scoring Rhilmina Sagapolutele. Sagapolutele started the inning with a 10-pitch at bat that resulted in a walk. Kalei Cacho-Kekahuna moved her up to second on a sac bunt.

Sagapolutele got the offense going again in the 4th when she ripped a leadoff double. Cacho-Kekahuna reached on an error, and Mckenzie Beavin plated Sagapolutele on a fielders choice to tie the game at 2-2. Edmonds pressed on, scoring 4 more runs in the frame. Ciena Kauhi had an RBI single and Chantelle Shimabukuro's single up the middle scored 2 more. Kauhi swiped 2 bags in the game.

Kayla Hensley
The Hawks responded with 2 runs in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-4. In the bottom of the 6th, Kayla Hensley launched a pinch-hit solo home run that would end up being the difference. Columbia Basin mounted a comeback in the top of the 7th, and had the tying run on second base with 2 outs, but Tritons' bump Cecilia Robbins turned the Hawks away. Robbins went the distance and notched her 19th complete game of the season.

The No. 3-seed Tritons (38-8) now move on to face Olympic College (21-21) in their next game at 6 p.m. Olympic upset No. 6-seed Big Bend 7-0 in their first game. The North Region foes met four times this year. Edmonds won three of those and took the last two at home on April 23.

In the first round of games, No. 7-seed Douglas survived against Wenatchee Valley, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th to secure the win. Spokane, the No. 15 seed, shocked No. 2 Mount Hood 11-7. For the second straight year, rain forced a one-day delay to the start of the tournament.

Columbia Basin box score >>Softball Championship website | Bracket | Triton Athletics Twitter

No comments:

Post a Comment