Wildcat girls aim at fourth trophy

Colton girls will aim at a fourth straight softball title when they open 1B state action at Yakima’s Gateway Park Friday morning. The Wildcats will arrive at Yakima with the number-one seed for the SE after topping Touchet 6-4 in a Saturday home qualifier for the district title.

Both teams will be among the eight teams in the Yakima entry. A 3-0 run will nail the title.

Colton will start at 11 against Curlew, the number two team out of District 7. Curlew was a 15-1 victim of the powerhouse Selkirk team in the District 7 title game Saturday

Selkirk, which figures to be one of top contenders at Gateway, will start the action against Touchet Friday on the other side of the 1B bracket.

Selkirk was one of teams Colton rolled past last year on their way to a third straight win of the trophy.

The Wildcats will take a 21-1 mark to the Yakima playoffs. They will return with a veteran team with all but two players back from last year’s championship team. Grads off the Coach Brad Nilson’s 2011 title team were pitcher Mikayla Nygreen and catcher Mollie Kramer.

Saturday at Colton, the Wildcats and Indians locked up at 4-4 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Colton scored two runs. Kaitlin Druffel cracked the two-run single for the decider hit in the game.

Taylor Nilson allowed nine hits to the chiefs in taking the win.

Jenna Moser and Hannah Kramer each had a double and single to top the Wildcat hits. Savannah Chadwick also tagged a double.

In the other SE playoff round Friday at Pasco’s TRAC, Dayton ended Tekoa/Oakesdale/Rosalia’s bid for a return to state action with a 4-1 win in the last 2B qualifier. The Bulldogs follow DeSales and Waitsburg/Prescott into the 16-team field as the number-three SE seed. They will start Friday against Warden.