SELAH — While West Valley of Spokane ruined Sequim’s dream of a 2A softball state championship repeat, the Wolves still finished in the top four to earn a trophy for the second year in a row at the 2012 state tournament.
Sequim claimed fourth place after losing in the first round, winning four straight to stay alive in the consolation bracket, and then losing to the same team for third place that it lost to in the first round.
The Wolves, perfect last year, took a 2-0 lead against West Valley in the first round Friday morning but the Eagles responded by scoring two runs each in the second, third and four innings to take over the game and eventually win 9-2.
Three more runs in the bottom of the sixth gave the Eagles the cushion they needed.
But the Wolves bounced back to win four loser-out consolation games Friday and Saturday to advance to the third-fourth place trophy game, only to lose 5-2 to West Valley at Carlon Park Complex.
Along the journey to the trophy, the Wolves had two early close calls in the consolation bracket, shading Mount Baker 15-14 in the first round and nipping Granite Falls 4-3 in the second round.
Two more wins
In the third round, Sequim defeated West Central District champion Interlake 6-1, and then in the consolation semifinals, the Wolves beat Aberdeen 4-2 for their fifth consecutive do-or-die win.
Ironically, Aberdeen had beaten Spokane’s West Valley 2-1 in the championship quarterfinals.
The Wolves were the No. 4 district seed coming into state after they stumbled in the district quarterfinals.
Sequim never trailed against Granite Falls in the third game it played Friday.
The Wolves scored once in the first and in the fourth for a 2-0 lead and then scored two in the bottom of the fifth to lead 4-1.
The Tigers scored two runs in the top of the seventh to get within a run, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Sequim pitcher Makayla Bentz struck out the Granite Falls batter to end the game.
The Wolves had only four hits in the game to the Tigers’ nine but made their hits count.
Rylleigh Zbaraschuk hit a home run out of the park and had two RBIs while Demiree Briones went 2 for 3.
Bentz went the distance on the mound to pick up the win.
The Wolves had a shootout against Mount Baker of Deming, trailing 13-12 at the bottom of the sixth inning but scoring two unanswered runs in the top of the seventh to win by one.
Sequim shot out to a 9-0 lead in the top of the second, only to have the Mountaineers score six in the bottom of the second to make it a close game the rest of the way.
The Wolves blasted five home runs in the game with Zbaraschuk tallying two and Briones, Bailey Rhodefer and Hannah Grubb hitting one each.
Zbarschuk had four RBIs in the game while Grubb hit three runners in.
Briones also had a double with two RBIs while Columbia Haupt had a 4 for 5 day at the plate with two RBIs.
In the first round, though, it was all West Valley.
Haupt had the best day at bat for the Wolves, going 2 for 3 with a home run.
Sequim 4, Granite Falls 3
Consolation
Granite Falls 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 — 3 9 1
Sequim 1 0 0 1 2 0 x — 4 4 2
WP- Bentz; LP- K. Martinez
Pitching Batteries
Granite Falls: K. Martinez, Mannino (5) and Spencer.
Sequim: Bentz and Rhodefer.
Hitting Statistics
Granite Falls: Munce 3-4, 2B, RBI; Alexander 2-3, 2B.
Sequim: Briones 2-3; Zbaraschuk 1-3, HR, 2 RBIs.
Sequim 15, Mount Baker 14
Consolation
Sequim 4 5 2 0 1 1 2 — 15 18 3
Mt. Baker 0 6 0 2 3 3 0 — 14 17 3
Hitting Statistics
Sequim: Rhodefer 2-5, HR, RBI; Haupt 4-5, 2 RBIs; Zbaraschuk 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBIs; Briones 3-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBIs; Grubb 2-4 HR, 3 RBIs.
Mount Baker: Lallas 3-4, 2 RBIs; Henry 3-4, 2B, RBI; Yost 3-4, RBI.
West Valley 9, Sequim 2
First Round
Sequim 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 6 3
West Valley 0 2 2 2 0 3 x — 9 11 0
WP- Peckham; LP- Briones
Pitching Batteries
Sequim: Briones, Bentz (5) and Rhodefer.
West Valley: Peckham and Sage.
Hitting Statistics
Sequim: Haupt 2-3, HR, RBI.
West Valley: Sage 1-3, HR, 3 RBIs; Finn 2-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBIs; Espindola 2-4, RBI.
1B State
Quilcene goes 0-2
YAKIMA — The Quilcene Rangers had a tough draw at the 1B state tournament and it showed in the results as they went two-and-out at the Gateway Sports Complex.
Almira Coulee Hartline beat the Rangers 12-2 in the first round Friday.
Almira was playing for the state championship Saturday evening.
The Rangers were knocked out in the consolation first round, losing 10-0 to Selkirk on Friday afternoon.
Quilcene was held to two hits in the Selkirk game.
