Tritons mount comeback to advance in winner's bracket

SPOKANE -- It wasn't easy, but it usually isn't at the NWAC Championship Tournament. Edmonds CC softball earned its second one-run victory on Saturday, edging Olympic 5-4. The Rangers scored one run in the first; the Tritons answered with a run of their own on Kayla Hensley's RBI single up the middle. Olympic added a run in the 3rd, and two in the 4th to take a 4-1 lead. Cecilia Robbins entered the circle in the 4th with 2 outs and a runner on third base and fanned Shanya Nisbet, a 1st-team North Region selection, to end the threat.

Kalei Cacho-Kekahuna

Edmonds was down 4-1 heading to the bottom half of the 5th, and that's when the momentum shifted. Kalei Cacho-Kekahuna slapped her second hit of the game into right field with 1 out, and Taylor Shigeta bunted her over to second for the second out. Shanelle Lum promptly doubled over the right fielders head scoring Cacho-Kehahuna. Ciena Kauhi followed with an RBI single to the right-center gap, driving in Lum and pulling the Tritons within one run. Kauhi stole second base and moved up to third on a passed ball. Chantelle Shimabukuro kept the two-out rally rolling with a double to the left-center gap to plate Kauhi and tie the game at 4.

The Tritons pushed across the winning run in the sixth with a two-out rally. Staisa Micky walked, and Liliola Vehikite, a pinch-runner, stole second and scored when Cacho-Kekahuna's drive to the right-center gap was mishandled.

Ciena Kauhi
Photo by Dan Acosta

Robbins held the Rangers' offense at bay for 3 1/3 innings, allowing no runs, 1 hit, and no walks to tally her second win of the day. Cacho-Kekahuna and Kauhi were both 2-for-3 in the game.

The Tritons extended their winning streak to 13 games. Five of their last 10 wins have been one-run triumphs (all of them in May). Edmonds (39-8) faces another familiar opponent in Douglas College (35-10) tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Douglas, the No. 7 seed, knocked off upstart Spokane 4-3 in their second tilt on Saturday. With a win Edmonds would become one of two unbeaten teams left in the winner's bracket.

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