SELAH — Peyton Rudd followed up a controversial delay with a two-run walkoff home run as No. 8-seed Port Angeles edged No. 9 Ridgefield 11-10 in extra innings to open the Class 2A State Softball Tournament at Carlon Park in Selah on Friday.
The Riders (20-3) advanced to face No. 1 Othello late Friday.
Rudd hit for the cycle, tripling in the first, singling in the fifth, doubling in the sixth and homering to end the game.
“This is what all those years of practice were all about,” Rudd said after the game.
Trailing 10-9 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Rudd hit a 3-1 pitch just over the fence to score Zoe Smithson, who had opened the inning with a leadoff double.
Rudd hit the home run despite a lengthy medical delay concerning teammate Natalie Robinson. Robinson was hit in the face by the ball after a bad hop earlier in the game, but returned to hit a two-run homer as the Riders rallied from a 9-3 deficit.
“Natalie got hit in the head, [assistant coach and Dr.] Dirk [Gouge] cleared her, he has the authority to do that,” Rudd said. “Someone from the WIAA came over and told the coaches that they needed to get a medical form signed or we would be out of the tournament.”
Crisis averted.
Ridgefield scored six runs after Robinson left the game defensively in the top of the fifth to go up 9-3.
“We were a little shaken up after Natalie was hit, that whole inning shouldn’t have happened,” Rudd said.
Zoe Smithson got one back for the Riders the following frame and Robinson tagged a two-run home run to cut the gap to 9-6 Ridgefield.
Rudd doubled to open the seventh, Robinson followed with a single and Taylor Worthington’s three-run home run tied the game up at 9-all.
After Ridgefield played small ball to sneak a run across and take a 10-9 lead.
Freshman Abby Kimball nearly tied the game up to open the bottom of the eighth as her shot to center was caught over the fence by Ridgefield. Smithson doubled and after a Lily Halberg out, Rudd hit the two-out blast.
Sequim falls in opener
SELAH — No. 15-seed Sequim fell 10-3 to perennial state powerhouse No. 2 W.F. West (Chehalis) to open state Friday at Carlon Park.
The Wolves allowed four Bearcats home runs in the contest, two by pitcher Kamy Dacus, including a three-run shot to put distance between the two teams in the fifth inning.
Lily Fili had two RBIs for Sequim (13-9) and Christy Grubb doubled and scored a run.
Class 1B/2B openers
YAKIMA — The Spartans advanced to day two of the Class 2B State Softball Tournament after splitting a pair of contests Friday at the Gateway Sports Complex.
Forks opened the tournament with a 12-1 win over Kittitas/Thorpe in a loser-out game early Friday.
That moved the No. 8 Spartans into a matchup with No. 1 Adna that ended after print deadline.
Sixth-seeded Quilcene dropped its Class 1B state opener 15-2 to No. 3 Inchelium on Friday. The Rangers faced Wilbur-Creston late Friday.
State tennis Day one
SEATTLE — Sequim’s Garrett Little reached the semifinals of the Class 2A State Tennis Championship on Friday at Nordstrom Tennis Center at the University of Washington.
Little opened by topping Fort Vancouver’s Jeffrey Truong 6-2, 6-1 in his first-round boys singles match then dispatched Pullman’s Vihay Lin 7-6, 6-0 to reach today’s semifinals.
Sequim’s Kendall Hastings dropped her first-round girls’ singles contest 6-2, 6-3 to East Valley (Spokane) Tiffany Phout, but stayed with a 6-2, 6-2 consolation win over Ridgefield’s Grace Gama.
Port Angeles players were not as fortunate.
Port Angeles’ Reef Gelder lost his first-round boys singles match 6-1, 6-1 to Sammamish’ Josh Chou, Little’s semifinal opponent. Gelder then fell 6-4, 6-2 to Anacortes’ Matt Rutz.
In an unfortunate rematch of Olympic League opponents, the Roughriders’ Michael Soule and Damon Gundersen fell 6-1, 6-4 to North Kitsap’s Josh Smith and Drake Jones to open tourney play.
