With more than 50 home runs, district champion Bishop Kelly ready to brandish new weapons
The Bishop Kelly High softball team is winning by an average of more than 10 runs per game.
Coach Missy Nichols says the Knights are just getting started.
“I can’t give you all my secrets, but we have other weapons in the arsenal than just the home run or just the long-ball hit,” Nichols said. “We haven’t employed them all year because you don’t want to just destroy people and throw them into the ground. I think it’s time to start pulling some new weapons out.”
With their 6-1 victory over Vallivue (18-8) in the 4A District Three Tournament championship game Thursday at West Park, the Knights (21-4) will brandish their new weapons as the No. 1 seed at next week’s state tournament, which runs May 20-21 at Post Falls High. The Falcons also advance to state.
Bishop Kelly is the defending 4A state champion, and Thursday’s district title was its second straight. The Knights have also won 16 consecutive games, but Vallivue got a little too close for comfort.
“We’ve got some strong opponents in the Valley who know us well,” Nichols said.
The Knights led 3-0 after five innings, but the Falcons cut that deficit to 3-1 on Bella Magallon’s RBI double in the top of the sixth.
Just the slightest hint of a potentially close game seemed to fire up the Bishop Kelly bats. The Knights responded in their half of the inning with three more runs as Ava Armuth’s hard grounder to left field scored Claire Cunningham, and Harper Campanella’s line drive to left field brought home Kaysie Jolley and Armuth.
Campanella finished 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs, while Armuth, Cunningham and senior pitcher Pilar Cook added two hits apiece. The Knights totaled 11 hits in all to Vallivue’s four.
“We went down to Florida over spring break, and we had a lot of close games there,” Cook said. “I think that really prepared us for games like this. ... We are able to overcome because we’re so close as a team and we just know that we can trust each other.”
It also helps that the Knights have a dangerously deep lineup. Nine different players have hit three or more home runs this season, and BK had 54 home runs and a team batting average of .438 entering the district tournament, according to maxpreps.com.
“I’ve been coaching softball for 23 years, and I’ve got a lot of gray hair to show it,” Nichols said. “But this is probably the most talented team I’ve ever had.”
Those powerful bats combined with Cook’s command of a rise, curve and drop ball make Bishop Kelly a heavy favorite at state. But the Knights don’t want to get ahead of themselves.
“I think what it’s going to take is to trust each other and to know that we can do it and to be confident in our ability and not to get big heads,” said Cook, who struck out nine in Thursday’s win. “Because that’s very common in sports. I think that we really need to stay humble and stay at our level and trust ourselves.
SOFTBALL ROUNDUP
Capital 4, Mountain View 3: The Eagles (19-9) punched their first ticket to state since 2012 with a nail-biting victory. Kennedy Bagley and Alyssa Castiglione helped Mountain View score three runs in the seventh inning. But Capital’s Penny-Lew Barnett homered for an early lead, and Allie Laufenburger sealed the win with her 10th and final strikeout.
Skyview 13, Timberline 3: The Hawks (24-1) got back to their winning ways and clinched a spot in the 5A state tournament. Summer Makinster, Ella Svaty and Marae Holloway each hit a home run, combining for five hits and five RBIs in the win. The defending champs will be the No. 1 seed at state next week.
Timberline 16, Mountain View 1: Amber Thornton got it done on the mound and at the plate as the Wolves advanced to a 5A state play-in game Saturday. Thornton struck out 11 and while scattering five hits over five innings. She also went 2-for-4 with a home run and six RBIs.
Middleton 15, Emmett 0: Paige Pieper, Jorja Crider, Natalie Miklancic and Katey Martinez all homered as the Vikings advanced to a 4A state play-in game Saturday. Sheridan Mortensen also threw a five-inning, four-hit shutout for Middleton (16-9).
New Plymouth 11, Nampa Christian 10: An error in center field helped New Plymouth to an eighth-inning, walk-off win in the 2A District Three Tournament championship. Sarah Binggeli, Jewel Bell, Jane Gibson and Ava Shaw recorded two hits each for the Pilgrims (19-5) as they repeated as district champs.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 10:37 PM.
