No happy ending for Lady Redskins

The Lady Redskins softball team had its pencils sharpened and at the ready to write a new chapter in the annals of Colusa High School sports Saturday. Unfortunately for them, Etna was not on the same page.

Bidding to win the first Northern Section softball title in the school's history, top-seeded Colusa instead found second-seeded Etna authoring a 2-1 win over the Redskins in Colusa. So much for storybook endings.

With the mercury hovering near the triple-digit mark, Colusa's Tiffany Friel came out just as hot, striking out the first three batters she faced.

The Lions scored the game's first run with a clean single up the middle in the top of the second. Colusa threatened in the home half, with a pair of walks and a wild pitch giving them runners on second and third, but Etna hurler Paige Finley got a strikeout to end the inning.

Senior Kiley Herrick brought Colusa fans to the edges of their seats in the third inning, cracking a long fly ball that had home run distance, but she got out in front of the ball too much and it twisted foul. She later doubled for the Redskins' first hit, but was stranded on second.

The Redskins had the makings of a rally going in the fifth, when a hit batter and two errors gave them runners on second and third with just one out. Rylee Kampf's bunt attempt was popped into the air and snared on a beautiful diving catch by the Etna first baseman, and Herrick followed with a slow hit grounder to short, but was retired at first on a bang-bang play.

Etna scratched for another run in the top of the sixth on a single, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch and an error, making it a 2-0 ball game.

Rough-and-tumble Colusa catcher Emiley Correa — sporting a blackened left eye that was almost swollen shut from being hit by a ball in practice Friday — led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. After stealing second she was singled over to third by Kayla Cunha, who also stole second. With two outs, Andee Clair stroked a single to center scoring Correa, but a laser beam of a throw from the Etna centerfielder made it home on the fly, where Cunha was tagged out attempting to score the tying run. Colusa coach Randy Watt regretted sending her home.

"I knew the centerfielder had the best arm on the team; I shouldn't have sent her," said the coach. "I had the number nine hitter up next and would have possibly had the top of the order coming up in the seventh."

Trailing 2-1, Colusa was retired in order in the seventh.

Coach Watt was still happy with the season, and is cautiously optimistic about the future of the team. "A 27-3 record is awesome,' he said, 'and we're going to be just as good if not better next season."

Losing just two seniors — middle infielders Herrick and Kristy Nair — the potential is there.

"We're going to be a year wiser," the coach said. "They worked hard, but they still have some hard work ahead of them."

The next chapter is still to be written.