Lady Broncos drop doubleheader to begin season

After two cancelled games and a jamboree to start the season, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Lady Broncos softball team finally took the field on March 23, nearly a month after the first day of practice.

The Lady Broncos hosted the Colfax Bulldogs for a league doubleheader, losing 13-2 and 21-3 to move to 0-2 on the very young season.

Much of the damage from Colfax's bats came in the first inning in LRS' 13-2 loss. The Bulldogs scored six of their 13 runs in the first inning, but would have been limited to just one run in the opening frame if not for fielding woes from the Lady Broncos. The game was called after five innings due to the 10-run rule.

Colfax jumped out to a 13-0 lead through four innings before LRS got on the board, thanks to a two-run moonshot from senior catcher Lacey Miller to dead centerfield. For Miller, it was her first home run since her sophomore season.

Miller's blast was one of just three hits and the only extra-base hit in the game for the Lady Broncos. Miller also had a single in the second inning, and Alicia Stanaway had a single in the third inning.

The Bulldogs piled up 11 hits in the game, 6 of which were doubles. Colfax was also aided by fielding woes from LRS, which committed seven errors in the game while Colfax didn't have any of their own.

Junior Cailey Vallone started the season opener on the mound for the Lady Broncos. Of the 13 runs scored by Colfax in the game, only six or seven of those runs were earned runs. Lady Broncos head coach Todd O'Brien was pleased with Vallone's performance on the mound, and noted that she did well to limit the free bases to Colfax.

"I was pleased with the way we settled in after the first inning or so," said Lady Broncos head coach Todd O'Brien. "We still made some young, inexperienced errors defensively, but I was pleased with the way the defense came around toward the end of the game. All in all, I was expecting us to play a little nervous like that."

Colfax's offense kept up the torrid pace it set in the first game of the doubleheader in the second game as well, scoring 20 runs in just four innings of play, including 10 runs in the top of the fourth. The Bulldogs' Abby Boyer hit a grand slam to punctuate a dominant day at the plate for the visiting team.

The Lady Broncos struggled to limit their mistakes in the field in this game as well, committing nine errors in the four innings. Vallone was again on the bump for LRS, and many of the 20 runs scored by Colfax were aided by fielding errors from the Lady Broncos.

Sophomore Sadie Miller had LRS' sole extra-base hit in the game, a double, while the team combined for four hits in all, all of which occurred in the bottom of the fourth inning. Stanaway, Lacey Miller and Collette Nichols all notched singles in that inning.

"I was pleased with the way we hit the ball, we didn't get struck out much and we made some good, solid contact," said O'Brien." [Colfax] made some great plays. We hit a couple of line drives that were caught right away."

Like O'Brien had planned in the regular season, Lacey Miller was out in the field in the second game of the doubleheader, while freshman Chloe Melton was behind the plate catching. O'Brien expects his team to progress in the field and at the plate as the season goes along, due to the lack of varsity and high school experience many of the starters have.

"The bottom line is that we're starting six players who have never started in a varsity game, and four of them have never even played at the high school level," said O'Brien. "All in all, it's a learning curve."

After two league games to kickoff the season, the Lady Broncos played their first non-league doubleheader of the season against the Davenport Gorillas at home on March 26. Coverage of that doubleheader will be included in next week's issue of The Journal.