TACOMA — State tournament appearances are becoming a habit for the Port Angeles softball team.
A three-run rally in the late innings, capped by Nizhoni Wheeler’s one-out RBI single to score Natalie Steinman from second base, propelled Port Angeles to a 3-2 win over Orting in eight innings in the Class 2A District 2/3 Tournament.
Friday’s win at Sprinker Recreation Center kept the Roughriders’ (22-0) unbeaten season intact, and more importantly sealed the program’s fourth consecutive state berth.
Wheeler said she was confident her team would find a way to win.
“It wasn’t easy, but I knew we could score more than two runs. We’ve done it all year. We’ve never been held below three runs,” Wheeler said.
Port Angeles coach Randy Steinman also felt a rally coming.
“They never gave up, they knew they could do it, they just had to do it in a little different fashion, with some fake steals and everything else,” he said.
The Riders will take the district’s second seed to state which starts in Selah on Friday, as a result of rain canceling the remaining winners bracket contests.
In Friday’s game, the Cardinals jumped on the scoreboard first, plating two runs in the top of the third.
Wheeler allowed two walks sandwiched around a passed ball, and it appeared Orting was in business for a big inning.
With runners at second and third base, Sydney Banyai dropped a run-scoring bunt down the third-base line.
“I give Orting credit, they were yelling so much,” Steinman said.
“When they got their first run, they bunted it, and we have a play called 55, which means field the bunt, fake the throw and come get the runner if the runner is off the base too far.
“The runner was definitely way down the line, so I yelled ’55,’ and [third baseman] Taylar [Clark] couldn’t hear it, nobody could hear it. She said she heard me mumble something but couldn’t tell what it was.”
Alycia Bannan followed by dropping in a single between shortstop and left field to score the Cardinals’ second run.
The Riders’ rally started when Kylee Reid reached base on an infield single in the bottom of the fifth.
Two outs later, Nikki Price worked her way out of an 0-2 hole to a full count and then brought Reid home on an RBI single.
The speed of Port Angeles’ Sierra Robinson helped the Riders manufacture the tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Robinson hustled out an infield single, stole second and then third base, and was brought home on Wheeler’s two-out single to center field for a 2-2 tie.
“The difference was we got some key two-out singles,” Port Angeles coach Randy Steinman said.
“Nikki battled hard to stay alive in her at-bat, and Nizhoni had a couple of keys hits, that first one with two outs that tied it and then the game-winner.”
While Wheeler was getting hot at the plate, she also was warming up on the mound, allowing just two base runners in the final five frames.
She allowed three hits, three walks and struck out seven in eight innings.
Natalie Steinman opened the bottom of the eighth with a single and moved to second base on Lauren Lunt’s one-out infield hit.
“First leadoff girl we got on all game and things worked out,” coach Steinman said.
Wheeler then poked a soft liner into shallow right-center field high enough to momentarily hold Steinman at second base.
Steinman scooted to third when the ball dropped, and raced home when Orting had trouble fielding the ball.
“Natalie had to freeze kinda, but I saw it hit and skip and once it skipped I knew nothing was going to beat Natalie,” her father and coach Randy Steinman said.
“Even though she didn’t get a good jump on it, she was still fast enough to beat the throw when she saw the center fielder bobble it.”
Port Angeles 3, Orting 2, 8 innings
Orting 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 3 0
Port Angeles 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 — 3 9 3
WP- Wheeler; LP- Bahnke
Pitching Statistics
Orting: Bahnke 7 1/3 IP, 3 R, 9 H, 0 BB, 3 K
Port Angeles: Wheeler 8 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K
Hitting Statistics
Orting: Bannan 1-4, RBI; Hand 1-3.
Port Angeles: Wheeler 3-4, 2 RBI; Price 1-3, RBI; Steinman 1-4, R; Lunt 2-4, Reid 2-3, R.
Port Angeles 7, Franklin Pierce 0
TACOMA — The Roughriders rode the strong right arm of Nizhoni Wheeler to a shutout victory over the Franklin Pierce Cardinals.
Wheeler struck out 15 of the 21 batters she faced, allowing just three hits, all singles by Delaney Sager.
“Nizhoni pitched a great game,” Port Angeles catcher Lauren Lunt said.
“I could tell when she was warming up that she was on. She hit her spots, changed up the speeds and they couldn’t really touch her.”
Kylee Reid put the Riders on the board with a two-out, two-run single in the first inning.
An infield single by Wheeler brought home Sierra Robinson in the bottom of the third, and Jaidyn Larson followed with an RBI single to put Port Angeles up 4-0.
Reid added another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, and RBIs by Ashley Howell and Lunt completed the scoring for the Riders.
Port Angeles 7, Franklin Pierce 0
Franklin Pierce 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 2
Port Angeles 2 0 2 0 2 1 x — 7 11 0
WP- Wheeler; LP- Ehrmann
Pitching Statistics
Franklin Pierce: Ehrmann 7 IP, 7 R,
Port Angeles: Wheeler 7 IP 0 R, 3 H, BB, 15 K.
Hitting Statistics
Franklin Pierce: Sager 3-3.
Port Angeles: Reid 2-2, 2 RBI; Wheeler 2-4, 2 RBI; Robinson 2-3, BB, 3 SB 2 R; Lunt 1-4, RBI.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 57050 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
