3A, 4A regional softball berths up for grabs Saturday in Richland

Before the season started, Southridge High School softball coach Eric Weisgerber had a strong feeling the Suns would be bunched together with their fellow 3A teams in the Mid-Columbia Conference standings.

Was he looking into a crystal softball? Not quite. But that’s the way the standings shook out.

Kamiakin finished first among the MCC 3A teams and tied for third in the conference with an 8-6 record. Hanford claimed the 3A No. 2 district seed by going 7-7 in MCC play, while Southridge (5-9) was third and Kennewick (2-12) fourth.

“I could have told everybody in January, Richland and Walla Walla at the top, and then three through seven, what’s the weather like? Is someone sick? Is someone injured? In years past, it hasn’t been that way,” Weisgerber said Thursday night after his team defeated Kennewick 5-3 in a district loser-out game. “Kennewick only wins two conference games and competes like crazy, and competed tonight and played well enough to win.

“I don’t even know if I want to call it parity. Everybody’s just a little bit closer. It’s just a matter of who’s playing the best on that given day.”

That said, Saturday should be a fun day at Columbia Playfield in Richland, as the remaining MCC 3A teams battle it out for two spots to next Saturday’s regionals at University High School in Spokane Valley. Hanford (7-13 overall) and Southridge (8-11) will play in an 11 a.m. elimination game, with the winner taking on Kamiakin (8-12) at 1 p.m. for the district title.

Last year, Kamiakin lost its first three games of the season but rebounded to claim the district and regional titles, securing its eighth consecutive state tournament berth. But there was some panic among the Kamiakin faithful as the Braves started this season 0-7.

“We’re young, and what’s worse is we’re inexperienced, and now we’re getting that experience,” Kamiakin coach Tim Bisson said. “We’ve had key contributions from our freshman class, sophomore class and junior class. It’s been a growing year. Kids have stepped up over the last three weeks and started to play better.

“We’re fortunate to be where we are, and we’re enjoying it as well.”

Hanford did a lot of damage in the 3A ranks this year, splitting with Kamiakin and sweeping Kennewick and Southridge.

“I’m really proud of them for already putting themselves in a really good position to continue to extend our season,” Falcons coach Lesley Guereca said.

At one point, Southridge was in first place among 3A teams, but the Suns lost their final six regular-season games.

After watching Southridge beat Kennewick on Thursday, Guereca knows her team will be challenged Saturday against the Suns — and possibly against Kamiakin.

“We have to limit walks, limit errors,” she said. “We have to score a bunch of runs of our own. That’s put together with bringing a bunch of quality at-bats together and really striking early in the game.”

4A DISTRICTS: Fresh off beating Pasco 13-3 in Thursday’s district loser-out game, Chiawana (12-9) will face No. 2-seeded Richland (17-3-1) in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Columbia Playfield.

The winner will advance to play top-seeded Walla Walla (21-2) at 1 p.m. for the district championship.

The No. 2 seed to regionals will host the Greater Spokane League’s No. 3 seed in a loser-out game Tuesday.

Next Saturday at University High School, Tuesday’s winner will face the GSL No. 1, while the MCC’s top seed will take on the GSL No. 2.

Three state berths are up for grabs out of the MCC/GSL 4A regional.

Keeping mistakes to a minimum will be crucial for Chiawana in Saturday’s rematch with Richland, which beat the Riverhawks 7-4 and 11-0 during the regular season. Chiawana coach Paul Antonovich said his team committed six errors in its second game against the Bombers.

“If we play smart, we believe we can play with them,” Antonovich said.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 3:50 PM with the headline "3A, 4A regional softball berths up for grabs Saturday in Richland."