LACEY — The Port Angeles softball added another accolade to its trophy shelf with a District 3 2A championship this weekend, crushing two of its toughest rivals, North Kitsap and Olympic to win the title.
Port Angeles beat North Kitsap 8-1 in the semifinal game and shut out Olympic, which is ranked No. 5 in the state, 8-0 in the championship game.
The Roughriders won the semifinal behind a 3-hitter from Heidi Leitz. She went the entire game, striking out five and walking none, facing just 23 batters.
Lexie Smith also belted a two-run home run, her sixth of the year to lead the Riders. Mikkhia Stevens and Morgan Politika also hit home runs.
Politika finished the game 3-for-3 while Kennedy Rognlien was 2-for-4. Leitz added a double and Sophia Ritchie and Ava-Anne Sheahan both had singles.
That win put the Riders both in the championship game against league rival Olympic and qualified the team for the state tournament that begins Friday in Selah. Olympic was the only team in the Olympic League to beat Port Angeles, 11-9 back on April 28.
In the championship game, Lynzee Reid was the winning pitcher, going 3⅓ innings and allowing three hits and no walks. She struck out two. Leitz came in to pitch the final 3⅔ innings. She picked up the save by allowing no hits and striking out eight of the 11 batters she faced. In 70 innings pitched this year, Leitz has struck out an incredible 126 batters.
Rognlien had the big bat in this game, going 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Politika was 2-for-3 with an RBI double, while Abby Kimball was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Reid and Leitz also helped their own causes at the plate. Reid went 2-for-4 while Leitz was 2-for-3.
On Friday, Port Angeles also beat North Mason 6-0 in its district tournament opener. In all, the Riders outscored their opponents 22-1 in the postseason.
The Riders go into the state tournament with a 19-2-1 record as the No. 3-ranked team in the state in Ratings Percentage Index. As expected, they got the No. 3 seed in the state tournament, behind No. 1 Tumwater (19-3) and No. 2 Mark Morris (21-1).
Port Angeles will face No. 14 seed Cedarcrest (12-12) at 9 a.m. Friday and will play a second game Friday at either 3:30 p.m. (if they win) or 1:30 p.m. (if they lose) versus either Woodland (15-8) or East Valley of Yakima (18-5). They might play a third game Friday at 6 p.m. if they are in the consolation bracket.
Port Angeles finished fourth in the state last year.
As expected, the Olympic League, featuring three top-10 teams all season in Port Angeles, Olympic and North Kitsap, dominated the District 3 tournament. Port Angeles will be the top seed, Olympic No. 2 and Kingston shocked North Kitsap in the consolation final 4-2 to take the district’s No. 3 seed. Franklin Pierce is the lone South Puget Sound League team to qualify for state.
