Chiawana softball ready to show its stripes in regional playoffs

The Chiawana High School softball team has oft been referred to as the Mid-Columbia Conference’s young, up-and-coming team. Now the Riverhawks are hoping to prove they’ve arrived.

They’ll get their chance in the first round of the MCC-GSL regional playoffs when they go on the road to face Central Valley (13-5) at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

“I think we’ll be ready,” junior catcher/outfielder Sam Cissne said. “A lot of us have played competitive and know what the higher levels are like. So I think we’re ready, and we have the skills.”

Chiawana finished the season with a 14-6 overall and 10-4 conference record, but the road to those happy totals was a bumpy one. Chiawana coach Paul Antonovich said the team’s turning point came after getting swept by 2016 MCC champion Richland on April 23.

“After the Richland games, I told the girls that you hear about championship teams all the time saying ‘this was the turning point of the season,’ ” Antonovich said. “So I said ‘this needs to be our turning point.’ We didn’t hit very well, so we had to get some things fixed and came out better the next week.”

With more production coming from the bottom of the lineup — Antonovich said the 7, 8 and 9 hitters were batting just over .100 early in the season — the Riverhawks soared through the final part of their regular season schedule, with splits against MCC Class 3A No. 1 seed Kamiakin and eventual conference champ Walla Walla serving as the only blips on their 6-2 stretch run.

“That’s what you hope to see,” Antonovich said of his lineup hitting from top to bottom. “Our approach at the plate hasn’t changed — we’ve still got the same approach because I think that’s been good, it’s just not hitting the ball with proper timing. We were getting jammed because we weren’t staying inside the pitch, those kinds of things.”

Despite the strong finish to the season, Chiawana is still the MCC’s No. 3 seed in the regional playoffs and has to travel to Spokane for the opening round as a result — a road trip players and coaches said they were mostly looking forward to.

With two stellar sophomore pitchers to choose from, Antonovich said he was going to give crafty Mailie Bishop the start against CV, and possibly use power-arm Annalisa McKinney as a reliever.

“Mailie has demonstrated really great command of her pitches, and between her and Annalisa she does a really good job of keeping people off balance,” Antonovich said. “She’s got an awesome change-up that really fools people. ... And then Annalisa is a totally opposite pitcher. She’s got a change-up, but is more of a power pitcher, throws really hard.

“Hopefully it takes them a little while to catch up to it, and that adjustment for them will be a challenge.”

OTHER FIRST-ROUND MATCHUPS

In the 4A playoffs, Walla Walla (17-3) hosts Mead (12-10) — beat Gonzaga Prep on Monday — Richland (16-4) hosts Lewis and Clark (10-9), and Hanford (8-13) — beat Pasco on Monday — travels to play GSL champ University (16-2). All games start at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Southridge (7-13) kicks off the 3A postseason with a home game against North Central (2-14) at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

KAMIAKIN, SOUTHRIDGE BATTLE IN 3A BASEBALL

The 3A regional baseball tournament has come down to two MCC squads as Southridge (18-3) will host Kamiakin (12-9) in the title game at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Kamiakin went on the road to hand Mt. Spokane a 7-2 loss in the semis Friday — the Wildcats first loss of the season — and Southridge topped Kennewick, 12-5.

The loss dropped Kennewick (11-12) into a loser-out game at Mt. Spokane (20-1) at 1 p.m.

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 8:22 PM with the headline "Chiawana softball ready to show its stripes in regional playoffs."