TACOMA — Port Angeles mashed its way to a state berth and Sequim was shocked in the opening rounds of the 2A West Central District softball tournament at Sprinker Recreation Center in Tacoma.
Led by Ashlee Reid, the Roughriders’ bats opened the tournament with a 14-2 thrashing of Orting, followed by a 6-1 win over Franklin Pierce.
After an opening-round bye, the Wolves built a 4-2 lead over Sumner before the game was put on hold until Saturday morning due to rain.
The Spartans scored four runs to pull off a huge upset over the Olympic League champions.
Sequim next plays league foe Kingston in a loser-out/winner-to-state game, which Wolves coach Mike McFarlen said will be played Monday at 1 p.m.
The heavy rain forced all of the tournament’s afternoon games to be postponed until Monday.
Port Angeles scored seven runs in the second inning to take control of its opening game against the Orting Cardinals.
“We were hot. We crushed the ball all over the place,” Riders coach Randy Steinman said.
Reid’s bat was the most scorching. She drove in seven runs and ending the game with a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning.
She also had a double and a triple, falling a single short of hitting for the cycle.
Sarah Steinman added two hits and two RBI, and Tori Kuch drove in a run and had two hits.
Sarah Steinman pitched four innings of one-hit ball, striking out six, to earn the win.
Her pitching was another major factor in Port Angeles’ two wins.
She opened the Riders’ second game by walking the first two batters in muddy conditions in the bottom of the first before a downpour postponed the game until Saturday morning.
When the game resumed, Steinman picked up where she left off, walking another batter to load the bases with no outs.
But she proceeded to strike out the next three batters to end the threat.
Port Angeles opened the game with five runs in the top of first (prior to the overnight rain delay), and it was more than enough, as Steinman took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and struck out 10 to record another win.
Maddy Hinrichs led the Riders with two hits and scored a run, and Steinman doubled, drove in a pair of runs and scored another.
Perhaps due to its scouting of the Orting game, Franklin Pierce, also the Cardinals, walked Reid twice. She still managed a hit, an RBI and a run.
In the two games of the tournament, Reid tallied four hits, three runs and eight RBI.
Port Angeles (19-3) will play the winner between Olympic (11-12) and White River (17-4), the tournament’s top seed, on Monday at 3 p.m.
The Trojans and Hornets will play at 1 p.m.
The Riders have already defeated both teams this year.
They swept the Trojans during the Olympic League season.
They beat the Hornets 4-2 in March, though Randy Steinman noted it was a nonleague game, so neither team played its best players for the entire game.
If Port Angeles wins, it moves on to the district championship game. Should the Riders lose, they will play for the district’s third seed at state.
“We’re feeling good; we secured a berth to state,” Randy Steinman said.
“We’re getting hot at the right time, and that’s what you want to do.”
First Game
Port Angeles 14, Orting 2 (5 innings)
Orting 1 0 1 0 0 — 2 2 5
Port Angeles 0 7 0 2 5 — 14 14 4
WP- Steinman
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Steinman 4IP, H, 6K, 0ER; Cristion IP, H.
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Reid 3-4, 2B, 3B, HR, 2R, 7RBI; Steinman 2-4, 2RBI; Kuch 2-3, RBI; Politika 2-3; D. Luca 2-3, 2R.
Second Game
Port Angeles 6, Franklin Pierce 1
Port Angeles 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 6 7 0
Franklin Pierce 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 4 1
WP- Steinman
Pitching Statistics
Port Angeles: Steinman 7IP, 4H, 10K, 5BB.
Hitting Statistics
Port Angeles: Hinrichs 2-4, R; 1-3, 2B, R, 2RBI; Gouge 1-3, R; Reid 1-2, 2BB, R, RBI, Kuch 1-3, R, 2RBI.
Baseball
Lovik makes all-Olympic 1st team
Port Angeles senior designated hitter Zach Lovik was voted to the 2013 all-Olympic League baseball first team.
Lovik was the only North Olympic Peninsula player to make first-team honors.
Olympic’s Shane Matheny, a junior, was voted MVP while Olympic’s Nate Andrews was selected as the coach of the year.
North Mason was given the sportsmanship award.
The Roughriders had three players named to the second team while Sequim and Port Townsend each had one player picked.
Senior Marcus Konopaski was named the second-team catcher while brother Brady Konopaski, a junior, was the second baseman, and senior Brian DeFrang made the team as an outfielder.
Sequim junior first baseman Nick Johnston and Port Townsend sophomore utility player Sean Dwyer also made the second team.
Honorable mention honors went to Port Angeles senior pitcher Wes Giddings, senior shortstop Michael Konopaski and senior outfielder Kevin Herzog, and to Port Townsend senior outfielder Devon Courtney and junior pitcher Cody Russell, and to Sequim junior catcher Brett Wright.
