After early end to 2016, Walla Walla softball ready for a run

Walla Walla High School probably had the best softball team in the Mid-Columbia Conference last season.

The Blue Devils split their regular season doubleheader with Richland, and swept their 12 other conference games without breaking a sweat to share the league title with the Bombers. They also beat Richland in a tiebreaker game for district seeding, and again in the district championship.

But the legacy of Walla Walla for 2016 was written with straight losses to University and Central Valley in the MCC-GSL playoffs, which ended the Blue Devils season short of the state tournament for the first time since 2013.

It was a tough pill to swallow.

“Last year we had a very talented team that underachieved in the postseason — where people remember things, which was a disappointment,” Walla Walla’s second-year coach Arch McHie said. “But I think we’re in a good spot. We’ve got a lot of talented leaders on this team, pretty talented ball players, a bunch of which will be playing at the next level. So I like our chances.”

Walla Walla (5-1, 1-0) returns seven All-Conference players from last year’s team that went 22-4, and all signs are pointing toward a return to prominence.

“We have great team camaraderie this year and we all get along really well,” senior utility player Tara Krivoshein said. “A lot of the girls are on club teams that play all over. Emma Sweet is going to Dixie State next year, and a lot of girls are going D-1 next year, and that’s awesome. We’re a big, talented bunch.”

Among the team’s leaders are a pair of twins; as in two sets of them.

Juniors Faith and Lauren Hoe were named first team All-MCC last season — Faith as a shortstop, Lauren an outfielder — and most recently combined to go 7-for-8 with eight RBIs and six runs scored in a 25-0 win Tuesday at Pasco in their MCC opener, continuing their season-long hot streaks at the dish. Seniors Josie and Emma Sweet were named first and second team All-Conference, respectively, last season for their outfield play.

So what’s it like seeing double on the softball diamond?

“It definitely throws people off when they first see us,” Emma Sweet said. “They’re like ‘Oh, wow, there’s two sets of twins. That’s kind of cool.’ It’s pretty fun.”

Walla Walla lost a few key players from last year’s team, but no departure was bigger than graduating MCC Co-Player of the Year Brandi Schoessler, a pitcher. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, Schoessler’s replacement looks more like her second-coming in junior Kamryn Coleman, who earned second team honors last year and has already signed to play for the University of Central Arkansas.

“Kam’s the real deal,” McHie said. “She’s incredibly strong, and you know, I think she’s starting to realize just how good she really is, and I think that’s a mindset of a good pitcher. And she backs it up with great team leadership.”

The MCC was young last year, which means there are a wealth of teams with returning starters, like Hanford, Chiawana and Kamiakin, that will be more than capable of handing an “L” to a Walla Walla team that catches itself looking ahead to the postseason. But if the Blue Devils can navigate the rest of their MCC campaign unscathed, they should be set for a huge May 5 doubleheader against Richland to cap the regular season.

“You can’t take anyone for granted,” McHie said. “Everyone in our league is incredibly well-coached, they’re all veteran coaches.

“But traditionally, when you look at the powers that be, they’ve been Richland and Walla Walla. ... If you had to circle a date on the calendar and hope it comes down to that, it would be May 5. But I think we’re gonna see some other things shake out before we get to that point.”

NEXT UP: Walla Walla will try to keep its early-season momentum going in a home doubleheader against Kennewick (1-4, 0-2) beginning at 4 p.m. Friday. Its the last game for the Blue Devils before spring break, as they will be off until April 11.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 10:47 PM with the headline "After early end to 2016, Walla Walla softball ready for a run."