OTHELLO — The Huskies suffered their first loss of the 2024 season Monday afternoon, losing 11-9 at home in a non-league contest against Shadle Park. 

The Highlanders went up 7-0 after the first two-and-a-half innings, but Othello was able to battle its way back into the game.

“We dug ourselves a little hole there to begin, gave too many free bases and put too many guys on,” Othello head coach Sonny Garza said. ‘It was hard to come back after that, but we battled there in the third and fourth innings. We were able to cut that lead up quite a bit and gave ourselves a chance, so we did see some positives.”

After Shadle Park went up 1-0 in the top of the first inning, scoring off of a groundball into fielder’s choice, the Highlanders put together four hits in the top of the third inning and capitalized off of two walks and a Huskie error to score six runs in the third, going up 7-0.

“When you get momentum rolling like that, it’s truly hard to stop that because they had so much momentum,” Garza said. “It was good that we were able to battle back and cut down that lead and have some kind of fight.”

Othello responded with a six-run third inning of their own, with its first run of the game coming after senior Xzyan Martinez reached home on a Highlander error. Sophomore Quade Gonzalez IV, sophomore Garrett Weyns and freshman Aaden Montes all drove in runs in the bottom of the third to cut the Shadle Park lead to 7-6.

“A couple guys got some big hits, that are going to be some guys that we hopefully rely on throughout the season,” Garza said. “They just got going with a few hits, and I think we got a walk as well in that inning, so we got some momentum there. We were able to still hit that ball hard and drive in some runs.”

Despite turning the tides on offense, the Huskies gave up another two Highlander runs in the fourth and fifth innings while adding three more of their own in the bottom of the fifth off of RBIs by Montes, junior Kal-El Ozuna and Martinez. The lead proved too much to overcome, as Othello fell 11-9.

The loss came two days after another high-scoring contest, where Othello defeated Hazen 14-8 in the season opener on Saturday.

“We’ve got to be able to find the zone and give our defense a chance to make some plays and see what they can do behind the pitcher,” Garza said. “If we do that, hopefully, we can limit the runs.”

The Huskies travel to Wenatchee for a non-league game Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

SP: 1-0-6-2-2-0-X 11
OTH: 0-0-6-0-3-0-X 9

    Othello junior Sonny Salazar III slides into second base.
  

    Othello sophomore Quade Gonzalez IV got the start on the mound of Monday’s non-league game against Shadle Park.
  

    Othello freshman Xyvvn Martinez runs to second base.