TACOMA — Sequim will take the West Central District’s No. 2 seed to the Class 2A state softball tournament this week after falling to Fife 9-3 in the district championship game.
The Wolves will open state against Capital (10-12) on Friday at noon at Carlon Park in Selah.
After beating Bremerton 10-0 and Orting 3-1, Sequim met Fife in the district tournament game Sunday in a battle of top seeds at Sprinker Fields.
The Trojans (23-2) were the No. 1 seed from the South Puget Sound League/Seamount League sub-district tournament, and the Wolves (19-4) were the Olympic League’s top seed.
Fife got to Sequim pitcher Makayla Bentz and the Sequim defense, which committed an uncharacteristic four errors, early.
The Trojans scored six runs in the first two innings and added three more in the top of the seventh.
The Wolves got three of those runs back in the third, but Fife replaced starting pitcher with Lauren Spencer with Anna Kasner, who shut down Sequim’s comeback hopes by striking out 10 and facing the minimum of 12 batters over the final four innings.
Olivia Kirsch tripled and drove in two runs for Sequim in the loss.
Melissa Lewis replaced Bentz on the mound in the second inning and gave up just four hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. Lewis held the Trojans scoreless until their three-run seventh.
Bentz was making her second start of the day and third in two days. Her first outing of the day was a gem against Orting (18-6) in the district semifinals.
The normally stout Sequim defense again committed four errors, but Bentz handcuffed the Cardinals, allowing only four hits and one run and striking out three batters in the complete-game win.
Orting scored in the second inning and held a one-run lead into the bottom of the fourth when the Wolves tied the score when Mary Lu Clift tripled and scored.
The game remained deadlocked at 1-1 until a pair of solo home runs by Clift and McKenzie Bentz in the bottom half of the sixth inning made it 3-1 for Sequim.
Shelby Lott and Lewis each had a triple for the Wolves, who had nine hits in the win.
After the district tournament was delayed a day because of rain, Sequim opened with its third game of the season against Bremerton (12-8) on Saturday.
And like the previous two matchups, the Wolves prevailed with a 10-0 win in six innings.
Alexas Besand homered and drove in two runs and Lewis doubled, tripled, scored twice and had two RBIs for Sequim.
The game ended with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when Lewis doubled to bring in Clift, which made it 9-0, and McKenzie Bentz singled home Lewis to put the mercy rule into effect.
Makayla Bentz went the distance, holding the Knights scoreless and striking out eight in six innings for the win.
At this week’s state tournament, the Wolves will try to earn their third state trophy in four years.
They won the state championship in 2011 and took fourth in 2012 before going two-and-out at last year’s tournament.
District Championship Game
Fife 9, Sequim 3
Fife 1 5 0 0 0 0 3 — 9 11 0
Sequim 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 — 3 4 4
WP- Spencer; LP- Ma. Bentz
Pitching Statistics
Fife: Spencer 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 2 K; Kasner 4 IP, H, 0 R, 10 K.
Sequim: Ma. Bentz 1 2/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, K; Lewis 5 1/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB.
Hitting Statistics
Fife: Roselli 3-4, R, RBI; Richardson 2-4, 2 RBI; Leingang 2-4, 3B, R; Lewis 1-3, 3B, R, 2 RBI.
Sequim: Kirsch 1-2, 3B, R, 2 RBI; Montileus 1-3, R; Bourm 1-2, R; Lott 1-3.
Sequim 3, Orting 1
Orting 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 0
Sequim 0 0 0 1 0 2 x — 3 9 4
WP- Ma. Bentz; LP- Behnke
Pitching Statistics
Orting: Behnke 6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K.
Sequim: Ma. Bentz 7 IP, 4 H, R, 0 ER, BB, 3 K.
Hitting Statistics
Orting: Bannan 2-3; Hand 1-3; Behnke 1-3, R.
Sequim: Clift 2-3, 3B, HR, 2 R, RBI; Mc. Bentz 2-3, HR, RBI; Lott 2-3, 3B; Lewis 1-3, 3B.
Sequim 10, Bremerton 0 (6 innings)
Bremerton 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 2
Sequim 0 1 3 0 4 2 — 10 14 0
WP- Ma. Bentz; LP- Mannino
Pitching Statistics
Bremerton: Mannino 5 2/3 IP, 14 H, 10 R, 6 ER, BB, 5 K.
Sequim: Ma. Bentz 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, BB, 8 K.
Hitting Statistics
Bremerton: Reed 1-3; Willeford 1-3; Mannino 1-3; Creiss 1-3.
Sequim: Besand 2-4, HR, 2 RBI; Lewis 3-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI; Lott 2-4, 2B; R; Clift 2-3, 2B, 3 R; Bourm 1-3, 3 RBI; Mc. Bentz 2-4, R; Kirsch 2-4, R.
