Colton on to state with No. 1 seed

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | May 27, 20150

It will be another late May trip to the "Palm Springs of Washington" for the Colton Wildcats at the state 1B softball tournament in Yakima.

Colton enters the weekend as the No. 1-overall seed in the eight-team bracket, which begins play Friday.

At the District 7/9 Regional Tournament last week at Medical Lake, Colton beat Cusick 10-5 and Liberty Christian 12-2.

Against Cusick, with an 8-0 lead, Wildcats coach Brad Nilson switched pitchers in the fourth inning, taking out Zoe Moser for Winnie Schultheis. The senior threw her usual low fastballs to the strike zone – but for six walks.

"They wouldn’t give her nothing at the knees," said Nilson of the umpire.

With Cusick closing the score to 8-5, the coach went back to Moser for the last two innings.

"Zoe got us out of it," he said.

At bat for Colton, Moser went 3 for 3 while Rachel Meyer went 2 for 3 with a home run in the bottom of the fifth. Schultheis went 2 for 4.

Against Liberty Christian in the second game, after committing five errors vs. Cusick, the Wildcats cut that to one.

"When I tighten up, they tighten up," said Nilson. "I might’ve been a little nervous in that first game. Or more than I should’ve been."

Against L.C., Colton held control throughout and, in the fourth inning, Meyer hit another home run and Daylinn Smith hit one in the fifth, too.

Other Wildcat hitters included MaryAnn Jacobs (2 for 4) and Kendyll Druffel (2 for 4, two RBIs).

Colton now heads to Yakima with the goal to win a seventh-straight state championship.

"There’s always room for improvement," Nilson said of how his team is playing. "We plan on working hard the rest of the week to tighten up what we need to."

Colton will open state against Naselle at 1 p.m. Friday.