CENTRALIA — The Forks girls softball team finished second in the District 4 2B tournament after Adna pulled out a 10-7 victory in a back-and-forth affair in the tournament’s championship game Saturday night.
Despite the loss, Forks is headed to the 2B state tournament that will begin Friday at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima. In fact, the Spartans got a good seed at No. 3 and get a first-round bye. They begin Friday by playing the winner of No. 6 Warden and No. 11 Lind-Ritzville-Sprague at 2 p.m. in the state quarterfinals. Adna collected the No. 1 seed in the state.
Win or lose, Forks continues on to play Saturday evening in the state semifinals or the consolation bracket.
Both Forks (16-6) and Adna came in to Saturday’s game as state powers. The Spartans, who made it to the state championship game last year, came in to the game ranked No. 7 in the state in ratings percentage index. Adna (18-4) came in ranked No. 4.
The game featured four lead changes. The Pirates scored four runs in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. The Spartans responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead at 7-6. Finally, Adna scored four runs again in the top of the sixth. This time the Pirates held Forks without a run in the final two innings.
Lizzy Soto was 2-for-3 with a double, run scored an RBI and a walk, while Keira Johnson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Fynlie Peters was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs, while Chloe Gaydeski and Kaidence Rigby each hit a double and drove in a run.
In the circle, Gaydeski pitched the entire game, allowing 10 hits and eight earned runs. She struck out 10.
Forks had already qualified for state by beating Ilwaco 12-2 and Toledo 16-9 last week in earlier rounds of the district tournament.
Adna 10, Forks 7
Adna 1 1 0 0 4 4 0 — 10 10 5
Forks 0 0 3 0 4 0 0 — 7 11 5
Pitching
Forks — Gaydeski 7 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 10K.
Hitting
Forks — K. Johnson 2-4, 2 R; Soto 2-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI; Peters 2-4, R, 2 RBI; Gaydeski 1-4, 2B, RBI; Rigby 1-4, 2B, RBI; Neel 1-4, RBI.
Sequim at district tennis
BREMERTON — Sequim girls singles player Calleigh Thompson won two matches at the bidistrict tournament and finished fourth, moving on to the state 2A tournament next weekend.
Thompson, who was second at the Olympic League championships, finished fourth. She won her first two matches, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 over Michelle Arjona-Reyes of Renton and 6-3, 6-3 over Jasmyn Sharp of Washington to make it to the district semifinals.
In the semis, she lost to Taranah Khalighi of Sammamish 6-0, 6-0. Khalighi went on to win the district championship. She was also beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Cydnee Chapin of White River.
Thompson will be joined at state by Sequim’s Garrett Little, who was second in the bidistrict in the fall. Boys tennis plays its state championships in the spring even though it is a fall sport. The Port Angeles boys doubles team of Nate Basden and Matthew Miller also qualified for state.
The 2A state tournament is held at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle. Reid Martin of East Jefferson is playing in the boys singles state tournament in Yakima.
Forks track at district
CHEHALIS — The Forks track and field team will send nine athletes to the state 2B championships next weekend in Yakima after their performances this weekend at the District 4 championships at W.F. West High School.
The best Spartans’ showing was by Nate Dahlgren, who finished second in the shot put with a distance of 46 feet, 6¾. He also qualified for state in the javelin with a throw of 144-4, good for fourth place.
Gage Willenbrink finished second in the high jump with a height of 5-6, also qualifying him for state.
Sloan Tumaua was fifth in the discus with a throw of 140-2, while Noah Foster was fifth in the 400 meters in a personal-record time of 52.67 seconds. They will both go to state.
The best showing for the Forks girls was by Keana Rowley in the javelin. She came in third with a personal-record throw of 104-11.
The Spartans’ 4×200 girls relay team (Moli Luong, Caitlynn Cooney, Kendall Marshall and Natalie Horejsi) qualified for state, coming in fifth place with a time of 1:56.63.
The 2B state track and field meet begins Thursday at Eisenhower High School in Yakima.
