Lower Columbia College Red Devils

There was plenty to celebrate on Friday at Lower Columbia Softball's final regular season games played on the home field in Kelso, even though the Devils were only able earn a split of the doubleheader vs. Centralia.
 
The Blazers held off a late Devil rally to take the opener 4-2, before LCC rebounded to grab a 10-2 six-inning mercy rule win in the nightcap.
 
The win in game two propelled Lower Columbia to its second straight South Region title, one game ahead of Mt. Hood. The Devils ended the regular season with a 44-5 mark and 29-3 in South play.
 
The most fun on the day was celebrating our eight sophomores and their families on Sophomore Day. Over two seasons that group of Gabi Silveria, Ava Eib, Dani Ambriz, Zoey Hughes, Rylee Brown, Shaz Ancheta, Emma Langsi and Cerenity Fake has an overall record of 92-5 in a Lower Columbia uniform.
 
With the 2026 regular season wrapped up, the Red Devils' sights are set on repeating as NWAC champions. The tournament begins on Thursday at Portland's Delta Park. Lower Columbia earned the #2 seed and will open at 6:30 pm vs either Clackamas or Columbia Basin. The Cougars and Hawks will play a loser out game earlier on Thursday.
 
The 12-team tournament runs through Sunday, May 17.
 
FRIDAY RECAP:
 
Game one, Centralia 4, Lower Columbia 2 – The Red Devils struggled to string together hits against Centralia pitcher Ava Hernandez, not scoring until the sixth inning. By then the Blazers were up 4-0.  
 
Lower Columbia scored a run in the sixth on an Ambriz RBI single. Down 4-1, Ancheta electrified the large partisan crowd when she blasted a lead-off HR in the seventh, her fifth of the year. Langsi and Brown then walked and singled respectively. But with the tying run on first base and no out, the Devils were not able to advance the runners and fell 4-2.
 
Ancheta, Brown and Zoey Hughes all had two hits. Hughes started in the circle and took the loss. Eib pitched the final 2 1/3 innings.
 
Game two, Lower Columbia 10, Centralia 2 (six innings) – It took no time for the LCC bats to come alive in game two, scoring five runs in the first inning. Danika Hallom had a two-run single to start it then Kendall Humphrey hit a towering three-run home run, her ninth of the season.


That would be all the support Eib needed as she held Centralia to two earned runs on four hits, while striking out eight. The sophomore righty finished the regular season with 236 Ks, tops in the NWAC.
 
Hallom doubled in another run in the second, her third of the game. Brown drilled an RBI triple in the fifth and Elysa Nash followed with a run-scoring single.
 
An inning later Brown doubled in another run and then Nash walked it off with a line drive single, for the mercy-rule win to cap the season.
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