SELAH — Six consecutive walks turned into three third-inning runs and Port Angeles would go on to beat Lynden 4-1 Friday evening to advance to the Class 2A state softball semifinals set for 1o a.m. Saturday.
The Roughriders will face the winner of No. 9 Othello and No. 1 Sedro-Woolley in the semis.
North Kitsap will play the winner of Aberdeen-Tumwater in the other semifinal.
Lynden recorded outs on eight of the first nine Port Angeles batters before a six walk stretch began with two outs and the top of the Riders’ batting order at the plate.
Free passes were given to: Heidi Leitz, Lynzee Reid, Natalie Robinson, Kennedy Rognlien, Abby Kimball and Ava-Anne Sheahan and Port Angeles held a 3-0 lead.
Leitz’s fourth-inning sacrifice fly brought scored freshman Morgan Politika, who led off with a walk and stole second and third bases.
Reid and Leitz split duties on a 4-hitter, with Reid going four innings and giving up one run on four hits (a Lions solo home run), with a walk and a strikeout.
Leitz earned the save, striking out five in three perfect innings.
Earlier Friday
SELAH — Kennedy Rognlien’s walk-off walk capped a four-run rally by Port Angeles and gave the Roughriders a 10-9 win over Shadle Park in the first round of the Class 2A State Softball Tournament at Carlon Park on Friday.
Fourth-seeded Port Angeles (21-3) will face No. 12 Lynden later this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. for a spot in the state semifinals.
The Lions upset No. 5 W.F. West 5-4 in another opening round game Friday.
The Riders pieced together an RBI triple by Lexie Smith, a pair of walks and a two-run single by Heidi Leitz to tie the game at 9-all.
Lynzee Reid singled to load the bases and after a Natalie Robinson strikeout, Rognlien worked a six-pitch walk to bring home the winning run.
Reid went 4-for-5 with a two-run home run and three RBIs.
Rognlien tallied three hits and two RBIs and Leitz doubled and drove in three runs.
Class 2B
No. 6 Warden 17, No. 3 Forks 15
YAKIMA — The Spartans couldn’t make two comebacks in a state quarterfinal loss to the Cougars at the Gateway Sports Complex on Friday afternoon.
Forks (16-7) will face the loser of another quarterfinal between Toledo and Okanogan in a loser-out contest at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The Spartans would need to win two games to earn a place in the 3rd/4th-place game.
Trailing by eight runs midway through the game Friday afternoon, Forks tied the game at 10-all in the bottom of the fifth when Keira Johnson connected on a grand slam home run to left.
Liz Soto followed with a line drive solo shot to give the Spartans a short-lived 11-10 lead.
Warden answered with five runs in the next frame.
Forks added two on an Avery Dilley single and an error in the field to pull within 15-13 after 6, but gave up another pair of runs and trailed 17-13 heading to their final turn at bat.
Soto doubled to lead off the inning and Forks quickly scored two on Warden errors. But the Cougars picked up two consecutive outs with the tying run at the plate to close out the game.
