Walla Walla’s softball season ends with loss to Central Valley

While the Richland Bombers will return to the Class 4A state softball tournament this week, longtime rival Walla Walla will stay home.

The Blue Devils, who entered the District 5/8 regional tournament as the Mid-Columbia Conference’s No. 1 seed, fell to Central Valley 4-3 on Monday in a winner-to-state, loser-out game at University High School in Spokane Valley.

Richland lost 9-4 to University (19-4) in the regional title game despite three hits from Kelsea Hinkley, but the Bombers (20-5-1) cemented their state berth by beating Central Valley on Saturday.

Central Valley (16-8) went ahead for good against Wa-Hi in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Hannah Anderson hit a two-run single for a 4-2 lead.

Walla Walla finished its season with a 22-4 record. Faith Hoe had a triple for one of Wa-Hi’s three hits off CV ace Kelsey Gumm.

U-Hi defeated Walla Walla 11-4 on Saturday to knock the Blue Devils into the loser-out game. The championship and loser-out games were postponed until Monday because of rain.

College baseball

Nate Ruane (Richland) went 3-for-4, driving in a run and scoring twice, as Angelo State (Texas) defeated St. Edwards 9-2 on Sunday in Grand Junction, Colo., to win the NCAA Division II South Central Regional title.

This week, Angelo State (39-20) will head to the NCAA D-II College World Series in Cary, N.C., for the second consecutive season.

Ruane, who is batting .272 on the season, has seven hits in his past 11 at-bats for the Texas university.

▪ Bellevue (Neb.) University senior center fielder Trevor Jones (Hanford) made the NAIA Opening Round Grand Rapids Bracket all-tournament team.

Batting leadoff, Jones hit .400 and had a .478 on-base percentage for the Bruins, who will open the Avista-NAIA World Series this week in Lewiston, Idaho.

▪ Washington will face Washington State at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Yakima County Stadium. It will be the Cougars’ first game in Yakima since hosting Oregon State for a three-game series in 2001.

Legion ball

The Pepsi-Cola Dusters began their season by sweeping the Kennewick Bandits 8-7 and 5-4.

Trystan Vrieling went 3-for-3 with two RBIs in Game 1 for the Dusters, while Jackson Ziobro homered in the nightcap.

Daniel Berg and Nolan DeGarmo earned the wins on the mound.

▪ The Single-A Hanford Flames opened the American Legion season with 8-6 and 10-1 wins over host Milton-Freewater on Sunday.

In Game 1, Jared DeVine pitched five scoreless innings of no-hit ball and struck out nine for the Flames. Spencer Mackley and Miles Robertson combined in relief to finish the two-hitter.

Ty Crowder went the distance for the Flames in Game 2, striking out nine and allowing three hits.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Walla Walla’s softball season ends with loss to Central Valley."