Huskies dominate over Prosser in strong home matchup
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 months, 2 weeks AGO
Aiden Garza from the Huskies hurls a pitch to a Prosser batter during Tuesday’s game. Garza threw for three innings where he struck out six batters.
CALEB PEREZ/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Othello’s Noah Ozuna steps up to bat and prepares to swing at a pitch during Tuesday’s game against Prosser.
Huskies player Tyler Suarez sprints toward first base after making a hit against Prosser.
Quade Gonzalez (18) from Othello stands on third base with Huskies Head Coach Sonny Garza, left, watching the next Huskies batter step up to the plate.
Huskies player Trey Tovar gets ahold of the ball and throws to first base to get a quick out on a Prosser runner Tuesday.
RJay Garza from Othello takes off toward first base after making a hit during Tuesday’s matchup against Prosser.
OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (5-2) earned a 14-0 victory over a Central Washington Athletic Conference rival, Prosser, on Tuesday afternoon. This victory follows another strong victory over Prosser for the Huskies last week, where they won 13-0 on the road.
“We had a good plan going in. We were going to use a couple pitchers,” said Huskies Head Coach Sonny Garza. “We were really aggressive at the plate, something that we’ve been talking to our guys (about). They executed and did what they needed to do.”
The Huskies got off to a hot start as they got on the board in the bottom of the first inning, after Ryan Martinez doubled to score two runs, an error scored two runs, and a wild pitch scored one run.
Othello added to their lead in the bottom of the second with walks from Quade Gonzalez and Ryan Martinez and Trey Toval grounding out with Prosser committing an error as each scored one run.
In the third inning, the Huskies once again held their opponent scoreless and when up to bat, extended the Othello lead with a single from Gonzalez, a single from Martinez, a single from Tovar, a ground ball into fielder’s choice from Noah Ozuna and an error from Prosser each scoring a run. Going into the fourth inning, the Huskies were up 14-0.
Efforts from Prosser were stalled by Othello in the final two innings before the Huskies claimed victory in the bottom of the fifth on the 10-run rule.
Aiden Garza earned the win for the Huskies as he gave up zero hits and zero runs over three innings to strike out six and walk one. Xzyyvn Martinez pitched two innings of relief, givning up one hit, striking out three and walking one.
The day was sweetened for coach Garza as he celebrated his 40th birthday with a Huskies victory and had players from his Central Washington Sixers team attend the game and gift him a brand-new cane.
The Huskies coach said the team has shown growth in their confidence so far this season and that was on display in their efforts against Prosser. Throughout the game, the boys were putting the ball in play, capitalizing on errors and staying aggressive at the plate by making hard hits that forced the defense to play.
Othello shone defensively throughout the game as they held the opposition scoreless with only one hit over five innings.
“Defense is real big for us,” said coach Garza. “We’ll continue to work on our defense to make sure we can back up our pitching. When teams start putting the ball in play and you get guys who get good contact, we have to make sure that we can take care of the ball behind our pitchers.”
Offensively, he said the team will continue their aggression at bat while fine tuning their hits.
After facing five non-conference matchups to start off the season, Coach Garza said the Huskies gained great experience against tough teams that they’ll use moving forward in the season. With the first two league games behind them, the Huskies plan to find more ways to improve as they climb up the ranks in the CWAC.
“It was good to face those (tough) teams early so that once we get into league play, we kind of know where our guys are. We know what we need to do with certain guys in certain situations,” said the Huskies coach. “I felt really good about our schedule so far with our non-league teams that we played and getting our guys ready to go for league play.”
The Huskies head on the road Saturday for another league matchup to face Grandview in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 11 a.m.
BOX SCORE
PRSS: 0-0-0-0-0: 0
OTHL: 5-4-5-0-x: 14
Othello’s Noah Ozuna steps up to bat and prepares to swing at a pitch during Tuesday’s game against Prosser.
Huskies player Tyler Suarez sprints toward first base after making a hit against Prosser.
Quade Gonzalez (18) from Othello stands on third base with Huskies Head Coach Sonny Garza, left, watching the next Huskies batter step up to the plate.
Huskies player Trey Tovar gets ahold of the ball and throws to first base to get a quick out on a Prosser runner Tuesday.
RJay Garza from Othello takes off toward first base after making a hit during Tuesday’s matchup against Prosser.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
Erickson looks back on a busy and successful four-sport high school career
WARDEN — A four-sport athlete is not someone you often come across due to the time and dedication it takes for success in one sport, but for Amaya Erickson, tackling that challenge was something she was up for in her senior season. “My family’s always been really big into sports,” said Erickson. “Both my parents have played and my siblings both play, so I guess they’re all a really great inspiration for me.”
Tigers start summer 3-1 after split with Sunnyside Christian
EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tiger Baseball Club (3-1) finished their second matchup of the season as they split a doubleheader with Sunnyside Christian Tuesday evening. “I was pleased with a lot of aspects of the doubleheader,” said Tigers Head Coach David Tempel. “The summertime is all about development and getting some experience. The good part about (Tuesday) is we were in some different situations that we haven’t seen much, so we were able to learn from those and use those to our advantage.” Sunnyside was the first on the board during game one as they put up two runs in the top of the second inning. The Tigers responded at the bottom of the third as they put up five runs to claim the lead.
Fletcher named new Eagles volleyball head coach
SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Eagles volleyball team will be under new leadership this fall as Erin Fletcher has been selected as the new head coach. She is following the successful tenure of the previous head coach, Nikki Noble, who helped guide the team to multiple state appearances over the years. “I’m so excited,” said Fletcher. “I’ve had the opportunity to watch these girls play the last couple years as a (referee). I’m really excited to be able to step in after Coach Noble and continue on that winning and competitive spirit that they’ve had for so long and kind of take it now to the next level.” Her love for athletics came from growing up in an athletic family of basketball players, but in second grade, she became the first in her family to start playing volleyball. From there, a passion for volleyball began to grow.