OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (9-12) finished their 2026 season Saturday afternoon in the 2A District 5 tournament after falling in the second round to Ellensburg 1-18. Huskies Head Coach Dominique Martinez said this was a great season of growth for the young team. 

“A good takeaway would be them knowing what the other teams bring to the plate,” said Martinez. “They got to see it happen because we did those different situations and we talked to them about what to do and then them seeing it, I thought they did really good executing it.” 

After dominating in the district play-in round against Toppenish, the Huskies went on the road to Yakima where they faced the number three-seeded Ellensburg. The opposition came out strong in the first inning, gaining four runs over Othello. 

With a scoreless second inning for both teams, the Huskies got on the board in the top of the third when Kenzie Martinez hit a hard ground ball to score Alexa Prochet. Ellensburg responded with nine runs in the bottom of the third, then scored an additional five in the bottom of the fourth. 

The Huskies were held scoreless for the remainder of the game and would be eliminated from districts after the fifth inning. 

Prochet was on the mound for the Huskies where she surrendered 12 hits and three walks over four innings while striking out eight batters. 

“Going off and starting (the game), the girls had their plan, had their mission going in,” said Martinez. “I think the first two innings they did really good.” 

The coach said one thing she felt hurt the team was they got stumped by Ellensburg and began to shut down after their opponent responded.  

Looking back on the season, the Huskies had a steady start as they gained a non-conference win over Naches Valley in game one but fell in the following two non-conference matches. At the start of league play, Othello went 5-1 against their Central Washington Athletic Conference opponents. 

Othello fell on hard times in the middle of the season as they fell in doubleheaders against East Valley, Ephrata, Selah and Ellensburg. Just before the end of the regular season, the Huskies got back on their feet to win their home doubleheader against Toppenish to enter the district tournament as the sixth seed.  

The Huskies kept their season alive in the play-in round where they earned a 10-run victory over Toppenish and went on to play their final game against Ellensburg that ended their season. Martinez said playing tough opponents like Ellensburg, Selah and East Valley helped grow their team into the future. 

“I don’t think (the Huskies) were used to seeing teams that were aggressive on the bases or at the plate. Now that they’ve seen it, I think they’ll know for next year,” said the coach. 

From the first practice of the softball season to their final game Saturday, she said the Huskies were taking in every little aspect of their games. After every game the team gathered to talk about the good and bad that came with the results and this would immediately be translated into practice. 

After the first couple of games, Martinez said the players understood how practices were going to run and began to take it upon themselves to analyze where they struggled and how they can improve. 

“Them taking that kind of initiative, even though that already was the practice plan, just giving them that sense of control helped them be better at practices and then it showed in games too; they were getting better at the little things,” she said. 

The efforts from the upperclassmen, which included the two seniors Alizay Pruneda and Maylen Valdez and two juniors Alexa Prochet and Chita Lara, allowed the team to grow as they guided the younger players and made everyone feel welcome on the team. 

“I was really proud of how well they worked together,” said Martinez. “Even though there were a few bumps in the road, all in all they worked together very well and they did really good when it came to (their) season. There’s still a lot to learn from, but that’s just something we’ll have to grow from and keep working on the next couple years.” 

With a large group of girls returning for next season, the coach said she is feeling confident in seeing continued growth for the Huskies in the future.  

“I feel pretty good about the girls coming back,” said Martinez. “They did learn a lot at their spot that they wanted and they learned other spots too. There’s a good set of girls coming up right behind them on the incoming freshman class, so that’ll be interesting to see.” 

BOX SCORE 

OTHL: 0-0-1-0-0: 1 

ELLN: 4-0-9-5-x: 18 

    Othello senior Maylen Valdez runs to get safe on first base after making a hit in a home game this season.
  

    Huskies junior Chita Lara gets ready to defend first base in the team’s postseason home game against Toppenish.
  

    Alexa Prochet, a junior for Othello, prepares to make a pitch in a previous home game.
  

    Evony Gomez from Othello calls to her team from the outfield in a prior home game this season.
  

    Aliyah Rojas from the Huskies takes a swing at a pitch in a game on the road against Ephrata earlier in the season.