TACOMA — Port Angeles clinched its first-ever trip to the fastpitch state tournament after a 2-2 weekend at the Class 3A Bi-District Tournament.
The Roughriders had made previous trips to state in slowpitch softball (1978 and 1986) but hadn’t advanced past districts since the switch to fastpitch in the 1990’s.
“I’m very pleased with the girls’ performance, this tournament was full of great teams,” Riders coach Buddy Bear said.
Port Angeles (16-7 overall) advanced to the semifinals after rallying from a 3-0 deficit to beat Auburn Mountainview 4-3 and knocking off No. 6 Mount Rainier 1-0 on Friday.
Sade Pimental doubled home Molly Ward in the top of the seventh inning to send the Riders to state and account for the lone Port Angeles run against Mount Rainier.
In Saturday’s semifinal, Port Angeles ran up against No. 3 Union and the arm of Courtney Dawson.
Dawson recorded 15 strikeouts against the Riders as the Titans cruised 9-0.
“They have what it takes to win the state title,” Bear said. “They are loaded with talent.”
In Port Angeles’ fourth contest of the weekend, a seeding game for a No. 3 and No. 6 spot at state, the Riders had to battle more than their opponents from Prairie.
Roughrider pitcher Stacey Webb, who earned both wins on Friday, had to deal with a shrunken strike zone while pitching seven innings on little rest against the Falcons.
“We like to move the ball around and paint the corners and the [strike] calls were only coming if the pitch was right over the plate,” Bear said.
The Riders could muster just three hits compared to
Port Angeles will find out its state opponent sometime this afternoon.
The state tournament is set for the South End Recreation Area in Tacoma next Friday and Saturday.
Prairie 5, Port Angeles 1
Prairie 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 – 5 11 1
Port Angeles 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 3 0
WP- Creech; LP- Webb (11-4)
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Webb 7IP; 2K
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Wahto 1-3; Hoover 1-2; Curtis 1-3 (RBI, 2B)
No. 3 Union 9, Port Angeles 0
Union 3 0 4 1 1 0 0 – 9 14 1
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 2
WP- Dawson; LP- Webb
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Webb 2 IP; Craver 5IP
Union: Dawson 7IP; 15K
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Holcomb 1-1; Hoover 1-1
Port Angeles 1, Mount Rainier 0
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1 6 1
Mount Rainer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 0
WP- Webb; LP- Moppalu
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Webb 7IP; 0R, 3H, 6K
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Pimental 1-4 (RBI); Craver 1-2; Hinsdale 2-3; Ward 1-3; Hoover 1-2
Port Angeles 4, Auburn Mountain. 3
Auburn Mtnvw. 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 – 3 8 0
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 — 4 10 0
WP- Webb; LP- Herren
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Webb 7IP, 3ER, 8 hits, 0BB, 6K
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Pimental 2-4; Elofsen 3-4 (RBI); Wahto 2-4 (R); Dani Craver 1-4; Curtis 1-4; Hinsdale 1-4; Pitz 1-3
Sequim to state
TACOMA — Sequim punched its second ticket to state in three years with a series of roller-coaster contests at the Class 2A West Central District Tournament.
“They’ve done so well for how young they are,” Sequim coach Mel Hendrickson said of his squad.
“They played hard and showed a lot of composure.”
The Wolves typically start four underclassmen in each game.
The Wolves staved off elimination with a 2-1 win over Fife on Friday.
Sophomore Lea Hopson homered and Sarah Donahue had an RBI to put the Wolves over the top.
That win pitted them against Olympic League Champion North Mason and their ace pitcher Emily Anderson on Saturday.
Sequim managed five hits against Anderson but could only bring across one runner in a 3-1 loss that sent the Wolves to a loser-out/winner-to-state game against Klahowya.
Freshman Demiree Briones held her own on the mound against Klahowya’s senior ace Kazandra Holliday in a classic pitchers’ duel before the Wolves manufactured the winning run in extra innings.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Chelsea Winfield walked and was sent to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Hopson.
Sophomore Maddie Zbaraschuk then slammed a deep shot over the center fielder’s head to plate Winfield and send the Wolves to state.
Sequim will find out its opponent at next weekend’s state tournament at Selah sometime this afternoon.
Full box scores were not available at press time.
Sequim 1, Klahowya 0 (8 Innings)
Visitor 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 3 0
Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 0
WP- Briones; LP- Holliday
North Mason 3, Sequim 1
Sequim 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 5 0
North Mason 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 — 3 6 0
WP- Anderson; LP- Winfield
Sequim 2, Fife 1
Sequim 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 – 2 5 0
Fife 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 5 0
WP- Briones; LP- Wagner
Hitting Statistics
Sequim: Hopson (HR); Donahue (RBI)
Forks 4, Toledo 3
CENTRALIA — Forks’ softball season ended a win short of the school’s first state tournament appearance after the Spartans fell 4-3 in 10 innings to the Toledo Indians on Saturday.
“This ranks right there as the toughest loss as a coach I have ever had to deal with,” Forks coach Scott Justus said.
“This one wont go away for me for awhile because we have great kids that care about the game.”
The two squads entered extra innings tied at 2-2 and the international tiebreaker came into effect after the eighth inning.
The tie-breaker puts the previous inning’s final batter at second base to try and generate late-inning offense.
Neither team advanced that runner past second in the ninth inning.
In the deciding frame, a Toledo bunt forced a Forks error, leaving Toledo with runners at first and third base.
Toledo’s next batter laid down a bunt single to take a 3-2 lead.
“They caught us a bit by surprise, especially with the runner on third,” Justus said.
After Forks recorded two outs, Toledo laced a single to make the score 4-2 entering the bottom of the 10th.
The Spartans racked up two strikeouts before Taylor Morris’ RBI single scored Alexa Justus to cut the lead to 4-3.
With two outs and Morris on first base, Jordan Grahn ended the game by grounding out to second base.
“We had the heart of the order up in the 10th inning but couldn’t quite tie it up,” Justus said. “It was one of the greatest softball games I’ve ever seen.”
Forks finished the season with the most wins in school history at 15-7.
Toledo 4, Forks 3 10 Innings
Toledo 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 – 4 7 1
Forks 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 3 8 2
WP- Herbert; LP- Justus
Pitching Statistics
Forks: Justus 7IP, 10K, 2BB, 4R (3ER) McGervin 3IP, 3K, BB
Hitting Statistics
Forks: Allen 2-5; Justus 2-4, (R); Zellar (R);
Klahn single (2RBI); Taylor Morris 1-5, (RBI)
Nooksack Valley 4, Chimacum 0
SEDRO WOOLEY — Nooksack Valley’s Erika Ramstead pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout to lead the Pioneers past the Cowboys in Saturday’s 1A Tri-District championship.
“We knew going in she was going to be a good arm and she lived up to that,” Chimacum coach Bobby Cossell said of the Western Washington-bound hurler.
“[There were] a lot of balls back to the pitcher and a lot of balls to second base. She stayed throwing curve balls on the outside all day so we couldn’t get good contact.”
Chimacum (17-3) was assured of a trip to the state tournament in Pasco with a district championship win last week over Orting. The Cowboys will find out their opponent and what time they play at state sometime this afternoon.
Nooksack Valley 4, Chimacum 0
Nooksack Valley 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 – 4 8 0
Chimacum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 2
WP- Ramstead; LP- Garing (6-2)
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: Garing 7IP, 8 hits, 3K, BB, 4ER.
Nooksack: Ramstead 7IP, 6K.
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Garing 2-3.
