3A softball roundup: Dragons, Huskies set for rematch with championship-round berth on the line

CALDWELL — The North Fremont Huskies and Malad Dragons matched up twice during the regular season, with Malad winning both by a combined 25 runs. But when it mattered most, in the Softball State Championships, it was the Huskies who came away 7-5 victors, Friday morning at Nampa’s Quad Park.

Now, the two teams will rematch once more, Saturday morning, with a spot in the 3A championship round on the line.

Following the second-round loss to the Huskies, Malad beat Declo, 10-4, eliminating the Hornets. Then they beat the Parma Panthers, 12-5, knocking them out. With the wins, the Dragons are 2-0 in win-or-go-home games, but will need to go 5-0 in such games to reclaim the state championship for the eighth time in 12 seasons.

Asked what instills her confidence in her team’s capability to construct a five-game state tourney winning streak, Malad head coach Bri Adams said, in a word, “depth.”

“We have pitching depth — most teams in 3A don’t have three fantastic pitchers, and we do,” Adams said. “We have depth on the bench. Our offense, our pitching and our defense is what gives us confidence.”

But North Fremont head coach Ericka Robertson has reason to be confident in her squad as well, given their victory over the same Dragon team they will face Saturday.

“Our girls have a no-give up attitude,” Robertson said. “To coach a team that believes in each other as much as our girls do, is pretty rare. I have all the confidence in our girls. I know they’re going to come out ready to go and hungry, tomorrow.”

The reason the Huskies, the 3A bracket’s No. 4 seed, are thinking “belief” and resilience is the result they turned in after upsetting the bracket’s top-seeded Dragons.

Following their morning win, Robertson’s Huskies took one to the chin from the Nampa Christian Trojans.

The Trojans hit five home runs on the game, including back-to-back-to-back jacks in the sixth inning to secure a mercy-rule walkoff. Juniors Addison Gray and Peyton Shook hit two apiece in the game.

Robertson does not believe the rough afternoon will have any lasting impression on her team going forward, though, because she and her assistant coaches preach one of Ted Lasso’s golden rules: “be a goldfish.”

“Each day is a new day, each play is a new play,” Robertson said. “Our girls are really good with that. If they just come out with the same energy that they did against Malad the first time, I think we can (win). Our girls believe in each other, and that helps a ton.”

North Fremont scored a 12-11 first-round victory over Orofino, before knocking off the Dragons.

Malad handed Firth a first-round defeat by way of the 10-run mercy rule, 14-4.

The loss to North Fremont though, put Malad in a position it has not faced much this year — one of adversity.

After a post-game huddle with her team, Adams had the red, puffy eyes that often come from either battling allergens or tears. Asked if she was emotional during the huddle, the coach once again had a bout of emotion.

“These girls have no quit. Ever. They get down, but they pull themselves out,” she said holding back tears.

As to what her team needs to do to turn the tables and earn a revenge victory, Adams offered a glowing review of the way North Fremont has played, before saying that her team just needs to find gaps and grass.

“We just have to hit the ball — we were hitting, but we weren’t hitting gaps, we were hitting right at them. If we can hit, I think, they can’t beat us,” she said. “They (North Fremont) came out and played a good game. Hopefully, we can do the same thing in the morning — pay them back a little bit.”

The winner of Saturday morning’s game will face the powerful Trojans in the championship round. Nampa Christian is undefeated in the tourney, meaning they must be defeated twice to be kept from claiming the banner.

In other 3A action

The eighth-seed Firth Cougars bounced back from a first-round loss to Malad by beating the fifth-seed Orofino Maniacs, 10-8.

But they were eliminated by the second-seed Parma Panthers, in a 19-2 defeat.

Firth was led by freshman Andrea Fielding, who finished the tournament with three hits, including a homer, four RBIs and two runs scored.