Cofax girls get state ticket with 2-1 mark at Franklin

After enduring a long day Saturday at Franklin Park in Spokane, Colfax girls finished with a 2-1 record and a ticket to the state finals at Yakima's Gateway Park Friday and Saturday.

Colfax is booked to play Ocasta at 9 a..m. Friday to start the 16-team final at Yakima. Last year, the Bulldogs played Ocasta and lost in a late Friday round and were defeated by Dayton/Waitsburg the next day to spin out of the state final with a 1-2 record.

Saturday at Franklin Park, Colfax and Chewelah had to wait over an hour while a Spokane Parks crew, and coaches, worked to get a soggy field in shape to open play.

Chewelah started the action with a six-run charge in the first inning and added three more in the second inning.

Coach Michelle Miller noted the Courgars' fast blast could have been a place where the Bulldogs' overall youth profile surfaced. She noted Colfax shut off the Cougars after the first two innings and got it together to score six runs.

Jorja Koerner allowed six hits in the opener. Helina Hahn led the Bulldogs bats with a double and two singles, and Justice Brown, Perry Imler, and Anni Cox each had two singles for the Bulldogs who actually out-hit the Cougars with 13 raps.

The Bulldogs came back to crunch Kettle Falls 14-2 in an elimination game and then dropped league foe Liberty for the NE's number three ticket to state.

Northwest Christian topped Chewelah 4-1 in the NE title game to decide the NE's top two qualifiers to the two-day state show.

Colfax dropped Kettle Falls 14-2 in four innings in the elmination game at Franklin with Koerner throwing a five hitter.

The Bulldogs blasted 14 hits in the second game with Brown tagging a double and a single and catcher Riane Jones rapping three singles. Hahn and Kyla Hansen each had two singles.

The Bulldogs then had to wait until 9:15 p.m. until Liberty emerged as the foe in the last consolation game which offered the NE's third and fourth tickets to the state finals.

Against Liberty, Colfax led 7-0 after three innings on the way to a 10-2 win. Justice Brown allowed four hits and struck out seven Lancers in taking the win.

Colfax had six hits in the Liberty game to make a total of 33 for the three-game series.

Cox, Harper Booth, and Hahn each had doubled off the Lancers who will be the number-four team for the NE on the state grid at Gateway.