Softball splits four games over weekend
The Centralia College softball team split four games over the weekend, taking both ends of a doubleheader in Grays Harbor on Friday before losing both ends of a doubleheader at home against Lower Columbia College.
The CC offense was firing on all cylinders in Game 1 in Aberdeen against Grays Harbor, as the Trailblazers scored in all but one inning in a 17-8 six-inning victory.
Centralia College actually trailed 5-4 through three, but scored 13 runs over the next four innings, including five runs in both the fourth and sixth.
Gracie Schofield finished with two hits and drove in four runs, while Natalie Loose, Makayla Chavez, Ava Hernandez, Sheridan Hammons, and Michaela Dueck drove in two runs apiece.
Loose and Macey Fluetsch both collected three hits, while Schofield and Lena Fragner both tallied two. As a team, the Trailblazers finished with 17 hits.
Game 2 was on the opposite end of the spectrum, as Emma Hoffmeister led the Trailblazers to a 4-0 victory in a low-scoring pitcher's duel.
Hoffmeister pitched the complete-game shutout, allowing just four hits and walking four while striking out seven. She also helped herself at the plate, driving in two runs.
Fluetsch and Dueck drove in CC's other two runs, as they each logged an RBI single.
Lower Columbia College took control early in the opener on Saturday, scoring five runs in the first three innings to build a lead before going on to win 9-2.
Makayla Chavez hit two solo home runs to score both of CC's runs.
Game 2 against the Red Devils was much closer, as the Trailblazers had the tying run in scoring position in the seventh, but CC couldn't capitalize and lost 3-2.
Hoffmeister allowed just four hits and three runs (two earned) while walking four and striking out five in another complete-game effort, and she added an RBI double to get the Trailblazers within one in the final frame.
Schofield drove in the Trailblazers' first run with an RBI triple in the first, and Adna alum Kendall Humphrey drove in two for LCC with a two-run home run in the sixth.
CC (12-10, 7-9 NWAC) will participate in the NWAC Crossover Tournament, which begins on April 10. Specific opponents and locations are to be determined and can be found at centraliablazers.com once they are announced.