Colfax short of state

Colfax’s Maddie Shrope beats the throw to second against Springdale May 20 at Franklin.

junior Abbie Miller swings. At left, Bulldogs take a camera peak from the mound.

A six-run charge by the Springdale Chargers Saturday in the fifth inning at Franklin Field ended the Colfax bid for another trip to the state 2B softball tourney at Yakima.

Springdale rally erased a 5-1 Colfax lead, and the Chargers finished with an 8-6 win in the elimination game.

Northwest Christian took the NE league's top state slot with wins over Davenport and Kettle Falls in the playoff action at Franklin.

The Crusaders roll on to state with a 23-0 record.

The ticket loss to Springdale came after the Bulldogs won two elimination games Wednesday when the NE action moved to Franklin for the second round of the NE finals.

Coach Michelle Miller credited the Bulldogs with working extra hard in the last weeks of the season and pegging a string of playoff wins to advance as far as they did.

The defeat Saturday was a disappointment, but the team stuck around and cheered for contenders in the seeding round.

Colfax had 10 hits against the Chargers, but they had trouble plugging the hits in when they needed them.

Down 8-5 in the last inning, they manged to book a score by Madi Cox who pulled off a steal at second base.

Cheyanne Stokes hit to score Cox, but that turned out to be the end of the rally, and the season.

Maddie Shrope rapped three singles to lead the 10-hit offense for Colfax.

Stokes had two singles, and Lindsey Lindgren had a double.

Colfax pitcher Abbie Miller struck out six Springdale batters, allowed nine hits and walked eight.

Colfax Saturday at Franklin waited out the first round of games in what was the semi-finals round for the NE. Springdale lost to Kettle Falls 10-3 in the first round, and that put the Chargers up against Colfax in the last elimination round.

Coach Miller noted Colfax hitting during the season ranged from 19 raps against Liberty in the Wednesday round to just six hits in one game.

The Bulldogs topped Tekoa/Rosalia 8-5 and then swamped Liberty 17-5 to stay in the hunt for a ticket Wednesday.

In the 8-5 win over TR, the Bulldogs scored two runs in each of the last three innings to get the win after the Timberwolves charged for three runs in the fourth inning to take a 5-4 lead.

Each team had nine hits.

Chelsea Becker and Stokes each homered for Colfax, and Payson Griner doubled and singled twice to lead TR bats.

In the big win over Liberty, Colfax scored six runs in the fifth inning to get a 13-5 lead and added four more in the last inning.

Colfax had 19 hits in the second game with Becker rapping five-for-five with two doubles.

Shrope doubled and paired singles.

Pitching for Colfax, Miller allowed the Lancers just four hits, walked nine and fanned 10.

Liberty's defense committed eight errors; Colfax had one error.

Asotin, the other two-game winner in the Wednesday round, pegged a 9-0 win over Davenport in the last elimination round Saturday.

The Panthers landed with the number-four state slot after being shut down by the Chargers 8-0 in the game for the third and fourth-place tickets to state.