EPHRATA — With the way the Central Washington Athletic Conference is shaking out, Ephrata and Othello just might see each other again on May 3 in a District 5-6 loser-out game to open the playoffs.

Zach Berryman hit a solo home run and the Tigers (11-6, 9-6 CWAC) won the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 3-1 at Johnson-O’Brien Stadium. Huskies starter Abel Gomez had his best outing of the season, pitching into the seventh inning, holding Ephrata to just four hits in a 3-2 victory in the late game for the split.

Selah (15-2, 14-1 CWAC) and Ellensburg (15-1, 14-1) and East Valley (14-2, 13-3) will sort things out at the top in the final week of the regular season. Ephrata (11-6, 9-6), Othello (10-6, 8-6) and Quincy (7-10, 7-8) will determine who will host a playoff game and, more importantly, who will go against the No. 3 seed in the first round.

“By not sweeping today, we’ll stay in fourth, a half game up on (Othello),” Tigers coach Jason Laugen said. “Our destiny is in our control. We’re pitching well, but our sticks are cold right now. We need to hit better. It’s a confidence thing, but we’ll keep working.”

First-year Othello head coach Sonny Garza has his team in place with a twin-bill with Prosser on Tuesday and an all-important twin-bill with Selah on Saturday at home to close out the regular season.

“The way I see it, it’s about finishing four or five, either hosting Ephrata or coming to their place for the playoffs,” Garza said. “We always want to be at home. They’re a good team, but we just have to worry about ourselves and make sure we’re playing our best baseball no matter who we come up against.”

Othello 3, Ephrata, 2

Gomez had good command of his stuff, scattering just four hits and overcoming four Huskies errors that threatened to blow the game up early when the Tigers scored two runs on two Huskies errors in the first inning.

The Othello right-hander settled in and pitched into the seventh inning where he ran into the new pitch count, coming out after throwing 72 pitches.

“My location was good today. This was my best outing of the year, it felt really good.” Gomez said. “I knew going into the fifth I had was throwing strikes and I just had to let my defense do the work.”

Ephrata scored two runs in the bottom of the first and threatened to blow the game open early. But Othello exploded with three runs in the fifth.

Jaxon Rocha and Alfredo Carreno had back-to-back RBI singles. Josh Garza added a third consecutive single and Arcenio Martinez came up with a two-RBI double to give the Huskies a one-run lead, which held up for the split.

Ephrata 3, Othello 1

Othello drew first blood in the opener, breaking a scoreless tie in the fourth with a run. But Ephrata bounced back, taking the lead in the bottom of the fourth with two runs.

Berryman drove a solo home run some 375 feet between the green backdrop and the Senior Babe Ruth World Series sign to ice the game with a solo shot.

The Tigers threatened to score more in the sixth, but Huskies reliever T.J. Martinez came in to put the fire out with the bases loaded.

Ephrata travels to Yakima to face East Valley on Tuesday and ends the regular season with a doubleheader at Quincy on Saturday. Othello has a three-game homestand, hosting Prosser on Tuesday and Selah on Saturday.