Stag Softball Heads to District Play

The Deer Park Lady Stags softball program has long enjoyed success on the fastpitch diamonds of the spring season, and now, for the third time in as many slowpitch seasons since joining the Greater Spokane League in the fall of 2024, they are experiencing the same in the fall slowpitch season. Deer Park opened district play at Sageview High School in Pasco with results unavailable at press time. They will play again on Wednesday, Oct. 14, against a yet-to-be-determined opponent, either Mt. Spokane or Shadle Park. District play, which will see the top four finishers qualify for the state tournament Oct. 23-24 in Yakima, concludes on Friday, Oct. 16.

The resiliency of the team was proven last week, facing three of the state’s top seven teams in the latest Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Rating Percentage Index standings and recording a pair of program firsts beginning on Oct. 6 at seventh-ranked Central Valley. The sixth-ranked Deer Park squad scored the game’s first 11 runs and held on to win 12-6. Kapri Bailey recorded four hits while freshman outfielder Gracie Bircher had three hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs. Maleah Palmer also had three hits, while Hailey Thompson, Makenzie Reynolds, and Lyla Shaler each had two hits. Jillian Marshall had a triple, driving in two runs.

Seniors Marshall and Palmer went out in style in their final home game on Oct. 8 against fourth-ranked Ridgeline, combining for six hits. Marshall had one of the squad’s five home runs as Deer Park came from a 6-0 deficit to secure a 13-7 win. Hailey Thompson blasted a pair of home runs for two of her three hits, scoring twice as well. Lexi Piper had two runs scored and three hits, which included a double and a home run. Bailey had three hits, one a home run, and two runs scored, and Bircher added two hits.

Three-time defending state champion Mt. Spokane visited the Lady Stags home field on Oct. 5. Deer Park scored all five of their runs in the third inning before falling 15-5. Piper accounted for three of those runs with a home run. Thompson had two hits, one double, and Bailey had a pair of hits.