YAKIMA — Could it be?
“I think this is the best team we’ve had,” Quilcene softball coach Mark Thompson said this week.
The Rangers (19-2) open their sixth consecutive Class 1B state tournament this afternoon at Gateway Sports Complex.
They’ve claimed three straight trophies, fourth in 2013 and 2014 and third last year.
But those were earned with hard-throwing, power-hitting Sammy Rae, who was the 2015 All-Peninsula Softball MVP. Rae graduated last year.
Thompson continues: “This is the best defensive team we’ve had.
“Offensively, we are really, really, really close to what we were doing last year. And that’s tough to do when you take away someone like Samantha Rae. We’d be fortunate just to be in the ballpark.”
The biggest void Rae left was in the circle. She started pitching for the Rangers in eighth grade. During that time, she pitched 11 no-hitters. Ten of those were solo jobs, the other was shared with Bailey Kieffer.
This season marked the beginning of the Kieffer era.
It’s been a lot like the Rae era.
Kieffer has a 17-2 record and an ERA in the 1.70-range. In April, she pitched six straight shutouts. (“Almost seven,” Thompson said, “but Darrington plated a run in the last inning of our 12-1 win over them.”)
Thompson said that if he had been told before the season that Quilcene’s pitching would have only a small decline, he would have gladly accepted it.
Instead . . .
“Bailey’s pitching numbers are near what we did in the past,” Thompson said.
“There’s been no drop-off in the pitching this year.
“I saw Bailey put in an awful lot of work over the offseason.
“She has a winning attitude. I’m not surprised at all.”
When hitters do reach base on Kieffer, it usually takes another hit to advance them, thanks to Kieffer’s battery mate, sophomore Erin Macedo.
“She’s something,” Thompson said. “She’s a great catcher. Teams don’t even try to run on her anymore.”
Macedo also swings a hefty bat.
“Everybody — fielders, base runners, umpires — needs to be ready,” Thompson said.
“That ball’s popping off her bat. You need to be ready to jump out of the way. Some fielders make a business decision and get out of the way.”
Those are just two of the Rangers. There’s also Megan Weller, Katie Bailey, Allison Jones and Alex Johnsen — the Quilcene lineup is loaded with players who are accustomed to traveling to Yakima the last weekend of every May.
“Most of them have been here for last several years,” Thompson said.
“I’m excited to go see what we can do.”
What can they do? How far can they go?
Thompson won’t speculate beyond this afternoon at 1 p.m., when the first pitch is thrown in Quilcene’s game against Liberty Christian (8-11) on Field 3 at Gateway Sports Complex.
“I want to go one game at a time,” Thompson said.
“Everybody has the same goal. We’re zeroed in on Liberty Christian, trying to win that game.”
The Patriots won last year’s 1B state championship, so the Rangers should have their hands full.
Thompson said a lot of the players who won that title are back this season.
“We’re going to have to bring our A-game to win,” he said.
Quilcene’s second opponent will be either Wishkah Valley or Pomeroy at 5 p.m., either in the state semifinals at 5 p.m. or in a loser-out consolation-bracket game.
Saturday’s championship game starts at 4 p.m.
Unlike the 16-team 2A and 1A tournaments, the 1B bracket has only eight teams. The other four teams are Sunnyside Christian, Rainier Christian, Colton and Almira/Coulee-Hartline.
This is the first time since 2011 that the Rangers aren’t opening state against Almira/Coulee-Hartline.
The Warriors won all four of those first-round meetings, and in 2014 also defeated Quilcene in the third-place game.
It might seem that the Rangers have dodged a bullet this year, but Thompson doesn’t look at it that way.
“We play who we play, you know?” he said.
“It’s nice in the sense that we get someone else, just for variety’s sake.
“You’ve got to beat them all. It doesn’t matter which order you beat them.”
2A State
SELAH — Sequim’s road to state was full of bumps and bruises and tears and other maladies.
Kaylee Gumm, Chloie Sparks, and Jordan and McKenzie Bentz are among the wounded Wolves.
All along, coach Mike McFarlen knew Sequim would make it to state.
“We’ll get there,” he said earlier this month after a loss to Port Angeles.
“We’ll be fine,” he said last week after the Wolves fell into the consolation bracket at the District 2/3 tournament.
And here Sequim (18-5) is, making its sixth straight 2A state tournament appearance.
Its first opponent is Othello (20-2), which beat the Wolves 10-0 in the opening round of the 2015 tournament. The Huskies went on to place third at state, their only loss coming to eventual state champion W.F. West.
The game above Sequim’s in the 2A bracket is between Port Angeles (22-0) and Lynden (18-6), so the Wolves and Roughriders could play round three of their rivalry hundreds of miles from the Rainshadow.
Port Angeles won the regular season showdowns 6-0 and 5-0, but both of those games would pale in comparison to a second-round state matchup — one team would end the other’s state title hopes (if both win the openers), or one would end the other’s season (if they meet in the consolation bracket).
1A State
RICHLAND — Following a brutal 18-7 loss to Bellevue Christian at the West Central District tournament, the Chimacum coaches had some real talk with the Cowboys.
“We said, ‘If you want to get to state, you’ve got to come to work. That’s all there is to it,’” Chimacum coach Junior Roberts said.
When the Cowboys finally got a chance to redeem themselves Monday, they went to work and clinched a state berth by beating Klahowya 4-1.
Senior pitcher Ryley Eldridge struck out 16 batters and Mechelle Nisbet had three hits, including a two-run homer.
Chimacum (13-6) will try to maintain that magic in its first-round state matchup against Omak (14-7) at noon today at Columbia Playfield.
The Cowboys are making their second consecutive state appearance after a four-year absence. Last year, they went two-and-out with losses to Cle Elum-Roslyn and Deer Park.
Chimacum will play either Lynden Christian (16-6) or unbeaten La Center (23-0) in the second round this afternoon.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sports reporter Michael Carman contributed to this report.
