Lightning zaps tourney foes Saturday

Golden moment: The 14U Lightning posed after winning the Walla Walla tournament. Posing from left to right and top to bottom are Les Wilhelm, Jaiden Wright, Whitney Wilber, Karigan Wilhelm, Kali Avila, Avery Albrecht, Clara Gambil, Mattie Spencer, Miah Slater, Woody Wright, Klel Carson, Addie Hagerman, Elle Abel, Marissa Carson and Kyla Gomes.

WALLLA WALLA — Lightning struck at the Walla Walla Sports Complex, leaving eight fast-pitch softball teams wondering what happened.

The Union County Lightning is a team of a dozen 13 and 14-year old softball players from Imbler, La Grande, Union and Elgin. 

They converged in Walla Walla over the weekend for the tournament and faced the  top-seeded team from Walla Walla for the championship trophy in the gold bracket.

But it took nine innings to pull out a 4-3 win over the Walla Walla Explosion.

The Explosion jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Union County team rallied to tie the game with an RBI single by Miah Slater that scored Avery Albrecht in the second inning.

The Explosion took the lead again in the third inning, scoring on a Union County error.  But the Lightning took over the lead when Mattie Spencer’s two-RBI double scored Elle Abel and Albrecht.

Walla Walla rallied to tie the game again, but the Lightning kept up the pressure.

In the fifth inning, they took the lead when Whitney Wilber’s bunt single scored Addie Hagerman.

In the top of the ninth inning, Jaiden Wright scored on Karigan Wilhelm’s bunt — then held on to win the game. 

Marissa Carson was the winning pitcher, striking out eight.