By Mike Maltais
The 11-4 Liberty Bell High School varsity softball team tied up the Central Washington 2B League North championship with wins over Manson and Lake Roosevelt last week to close out regular season play and prepare for the first district opponent at Ephrata on Saturday (May 24).
The Lady Lions will play the winner of the game between Oroville from the 2B North vs. White Swan from the 2B South, which meet Wednesday (May 21) in the Sterling Sportsplex at Wenatchee Valley College.
The 3-5 Cougars ended the regular season in last place in the three-team 2B South, and Oroville with its 5-10 record stood fourth among the five teams in the 2B North.
Meanwhile Kittitas, winner of the 2B South, will be awaiting the winner of Bridgeport vs. Lyle-Klickitat-Wishram.
Manson remains winless
The Lady Lions celebrated Senior Night Thursday (May 15) by handing the winless Manson Trojans a 20-0 loss in three innings before the team said goodbye to veterans Lily Darwood, Katherine Tannehill, Korrie Perryman and Julie McMillan, who all will graduate next month.
Darwood pitched the entire Manson game, which only required two at-bats by Liberty Bell to rack up 20 runs against the Mustangs. Those included a three-run triple by Perryman and doubles from Tannehill and Darwood.
Raiders fall twice
Liberty Bell ended its regular season by winning both sides of a doubleheader, 19-2 and 10-8, at Lake Roosevelt Saturday (May 17).
The Lady Lions required just four innings to reach mercy rule territory in game one against the Raiders.
“Everyone hit really well,” said coach Lee Pilkinton, and that included a double off the bat of rookie Janie McMillan.
Baylee Canedo connected for an over-the-fence homer and eighth-grader Lauren Ochoa launched a second near-grand slam with two runners on base.
Game two went the full seven innings as the Raiders remained within striking distance of Liberty Bell throughout the contest.
“We scored five runs in the first inning but they came back in the second inning and scored four against us,” Pilkinton said. “It was anybody’s game right down to the end.”
Kelsey Baldwin pitched the entire first game and started on the mound in the second until Darwood relieved her midway through to preserve the win.
The Lady Lions survived regionals last year with a 12-9 win over Lake Roosevelt and 19-2 loss to Kittitas. At state Liberty Bell lost to eventual second-place winner Northwest Christian (Colbert), 12-2, and third-place Napavine, 7-4.
