Dust Devils win in Tri-Cities first game since COVID pandemic began

Brendon Davis introduced himself to the Tri-Cities on Tuesday night, going 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and a home run, as the Tri-City Dust Dust Devils opened their season with a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canadians.

It was the first time in 600 days that the Dust Devils played a game at Gesa Stadium in Pasco.

Livan Soto went 1-for-3 and scored two runs for Tri-City, which plays five more games at home this week against Vancouver in the new High-A West league.

Aaron Hernandez, Cristopher Molina, Tyler Smith and Zac Kristofak combined to throw a 4-hit shutout for the Dust Devils.

Molina and Kristofek were especially impressive.

Molina got the win, pitching 2 1/3 innings, walking two and striking out three.

Kristofak pitched the ninth, striking out all three batters he faced.

Americans hockey

Sam Huo scored the game’s final two goals to lead the Tri-City Americans to a 4-3 overtime win in Spokane on Tuesday night in Western Hockey League play.

Huo scored the game-tying goal at 12:47 of the third period, with assists from Connor Bouchard and Sasha Mutala.

Then, 23 seconds into overtime, Mutala found Huo for the game-winner.

What was really neat to see after the game, was the entire Tri-City team lined up to glove bump with the three 20-year-olds for Spokane after the game.

This was the final meeting of this short, spring season between the two rivals — and the final, career-wise, meeting for the over-agers.

So it was neat to see the acknowledgment between the two rival teams.

Prep sports

Almost all spring sports regular-season games and events have concluded in the Mid-Columbia Conference.

Now it’s just time for the concluding events, or district tournaments and meets.

Here is what we have left:

▪ Baseball: The top four teams will play in a mini-tournament Friday and Saturday, May 7-8, with top-seeded Richland hosting No. 4 Kamiakin at 5 p.m. Friday; while No. 2-seeded Walla Walla hosts No. 3 Kennewick at 4 p.m. Friday.

Winners play Saturday at 11 a.m., at the higher seed. Losers do the same, also at the higher seed.

▪ Boys and girls golf: Golfers will play a district tournament at Horn Rapids Golf Course on Thursday, with the boys teeing off at 8 a.m., and the girls following at 10:30 a.m.

▪ Boys soccer: Teams will follow the same format as baseball, with No. 1 Richland hosting No. 4 Chiawana at 6 p.m. Friday, and No. 3 Hermiston visiting No. 2 Pasco at 6 p.m. at Edgar Brown Stadium on Friday night.

The winners meet Saturday for the championship at the higher seed. Losers will meet for third-place at the higher seed.

▪ Softball: The culminating tournament ends May 6, with the top four teams meeting at Columbia Playfield in Richland.

At 4 p.m. top seed Walla Walla takes on Richland, while No. 2 Kamiakin meets Kennewick.

At 6 p.m., the winners play for the title, while losers play for third.

The fifth through eighth-place teams will play over at Hanford High.

Also starting at 4 p.m., Chiawana and Hermiston meet, as do Hanford and Southridge. Winners meet at 6 p.m., while losers battle at the same time.

▪ Tennis: Boys singles play will be at Southridge on May 7 at 2 p.m., while boys doubles are at the same time, but at Kamiakin.

The girls singles tournament starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at Southridge, and the girls doubles tourney starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at Kamiakin.

▪ The top 18 competitors in each event will get a chance for a district title Thursday at Fran Rish Stadium in Richland.

Field events begin at 3 p.m., while running events start at 3:45 p.m.

Winter sports

Hard to believe, but high school basketball tipped off around here Tuesday night with a couple of 2A CWAC games.

In boys play, Haden Hicks scored 14 points and Kory McClure added 13 as the Prosser Mustangs beat Ellensburg 71-62.

Nicky Gutierrez scored 13 points, but it wasn’t enough as Grandview lost to Selah 62-59.

In girls games, Jazmine Richey had 11 points, while Cat Castro and Natalee Trevino added 10 points each, as Grandview beat Selah 40-31.

Halle Wright scored 15 points, but it wasn’t enough as Prosser fell to Ellensburg 68-37.

▪ MCC basketball play is scheduled to start next week.

Tuesday night’s openers for girls: Kamiakin at Walla Walla; Southridge at Kennewick; Chiawana at Richland; Hanford at Hermiston.

Tuesday night’s openers for boys: Kennewick at Southridge; Walla Walla at Kamiakin; Richland at Chiawana.

All tipoffs are 7 p.m.

Hermiston boys visit Hanford on May 12.