Mavs slowpitch dominating season with 9-1 record so far
IAN BIVONA | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 1 month AGO
Moses Lake senior Mikayla Schwartz (9) runs to third base in the first game of Monday’s doubleheader against Wenatchee.
IAN BIVONA/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Moses Lake senior Kendall Reffett (24) throws a ball back toward the infield against Wenatchee on Monday.
Moses Lake senior Morgan Ross (1) makes contact with a pitch against Wenatchee on Monday afternoon.
Ian Bivona serves as the Columbia Basin Herald’s sports reporter and is a graduate of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. He enjoys the behind-the-scenes stories that lead up to the wins and losses of the various sports teams in the Basin. Football is his favorite sport, though he likes them all, and his favorite team is the Jets. He lives in Soap Lake with his cat, Honey. | September 26, 2023 5:08 PM
MOSES LAKE — The Mavericks notched another two wins on Monday afternoon, improving to 9-1 through the team’s first 10 games after a sweep of Wenatchee.
Monday’s 15-5 and 15-0 wins over the Panthers were the eighth and ninth-straight wins for the Mavs, whose lone loss was in the season-opener against University on Sept. 9.
“We knew we had the potential to be pretty good at the beginning of the season,” head coach Mike Hofheins said. “We’ve got a lot of returners and a lot of experience, and we just have to put it all together. We’ve been playing some teams that we should handle and we are, which is nice, but there’s a part of our schedule coming up that gets a little tougher.”
Seven of Moses Lake’s nine wins this fall have been by double digits; a 12-1 win over Central Valley on Sept. 9; 24-0 and 21-1 wins over Eisenhower on Sept. 19; 22-1 and 21-0 wins over Hermiston on Sept. 21; and Monday’s wins over Wenatchee.
A strong lineup up and down the order has helped the Mavs put up these big numbers on the scoreboard, with nine batters having recorded double-digit hits through the team’s first 10 games.
“I feel like our six, seven, eight, nine, 10 hitters are as potent, or sometimes more, on any given night than our first four or five,” Hofheins said. “We don’t have a spot in our lineup where you can count on an out, I’m pretty pleased with that.”
Six players from Moses Lake’s varsity fastpitch roster in the spring returned, with senior Morgan Ross, sophomore Lila Johnson, senior Mikayla Schwartz, senior Trinity Nations, junior Paige Richardson and senior Kendall Reffett all playing slowpitch this fall. That familiarity with one another goes a long way, Hofheins said.
“They’re familiar with me, they’re familiar with each other — that part’s been super cool, so they just get to work on reps and finding where the pieces fit,” Hofheins said. “A few girls in slowpitch play a different position than they may in fastpitch, but their coachability and effort is just a continuation of the spring. It’s been pretty fun.”
While the wins have come at a steady pace to begin the 2023 campaign, Moses Lake’s schedule starts to get tougher over the next week. Following a Tuesday night game on the road against Cheney, Moses Lake travels to Walla Walla (7-3) on Thursday, hosts Davis (5-3) on Tuesday and travels to Chiawana (5-1) on Oct. 5.
“I just want us to keep improving,” Hofheins said. “We’ve shown moments of brilliance, and then every now and then we have a hiccup inning or two. Just more consistency both throughout the game and up and down the lineup. I think if you just play consistent and play defense, you get a chance to win a lot of games.”
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
