2A Softball: W.F. West Thumps Tumwater for State Championship

    SELAH — There's an old baseball adage about good pitching beating good hitting.

    That may not apply to softball — or at least not to Bearcat softball.

    W.F. West racked up 15 hits and scored 12 runs over the final three innings to pound Tumwater 15-3 here Saturday in the State 2A Softball Tournament championship game.

    It was the fifth time the teams had met this season, with the Thunderbirds winning the first three. From the outset on Saturday, however, everything was coming up Bearcats.

    Tumwater pitcher Kierstin Smith — the two-time Evergreen 2A Conference Pitching MVP — was dinged for throwing four illegal pitches in the first inning. Two of those were balls in a four-pitch leadoff walk to Kenna Tornow. Haley Graham then lined a double down the left field line to score Tornow, and scored herself on a wild pitch. The third illegal pitch called back a groundout by Dani Braun, who took advantage of the second chance and tripled off the fence, then scored on the final bad pitch.

    The Thunderbirds, though, kept it interesting for four innings. Alyssa Ubrun hit an RBI double, and Smith knocked a 2-run homer in the third inning to tie the game at 3-3.

    Kaitlin Moore, however, yanked the momentum back to the Bearcat bench by leading off the fifth inning with a line-drive homer to right center field. Tornow follwed it with a single, Braun reached via error, and Marissa Reynolds hit a long sacrifice fly to right field to score Tornow. Braun, who moved from first to third on a wild pitch, came around to score on a single from Lauren Fisher, and W.F. West was in the driver's seat.

    The Cats wouldn't take their hands off the steering wheel for the remainder of the game.

    Three hits — highlighted by a 2-run single from Braun and an RBI single from Fisher — along with an error and a run-scoring wild pitch pushed the lead to 10-3 after six innings. Five more hits and another T-Bird error helped the Cats bat around in the top of the seventh, with Amber Taylor starting the rally with a double and Fisher's single driving in 2.

    Kalynn Randt, who relieved freshman Ali Graham in the fourth inning, allowed three hits over four innings and retired the top third of the T-Bird lineup in order to close out the win.

    Fisher wrapped her prep career with a 3 for 5 performance at the plate and 4 RBIs. Haley Graham went 3 for 4, and Taylor, Braun and Moore were each 2 for 4.

    Mikayla Glasgo went 2 for 3 for Tumwater.

    The Bearcats finished the season with a 22-3 record, and their first state championship since 2000. It was the final game for seniors Fisher, Braun, Randt, Chelsie Fechtner, Haley Graham, Taylor and Kaitlyn Girardin.

W.F. West 13, Aberdeen 3

    The Bearcats were clearly in a hurry to get to the championship game.

    W.F. West scored 3 runs in each of the first three innings to lead 9-0, and tacked on its final run in the bottom of the sixth to invoke the 10-run rule and end the game early.

    Marissa Reynolds hit a 3-run homer in the second inning, Lauren Fisher homered in the fifth and went 2 for 4, and Amber Taylor added two hits. Dani Braun went 4 for 5, and Haley Graham was 2 for 2 and walked twice.

    Graham also got the win in the circle, allowing five hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

At Selah

BEARCATS 13, BOBCATS 3

Aberdeen     000    120 — 3 5 2

W.F. West    333    031 — 13 16 2

    Batteries: Aberdeen — Donovan, Ulto-Galaraneau (3) and Tometich; Haley Graham and Amber Taylor

At Selah

BEARCATS 15, THUNDERBIRDS 3

W.F. West    300    034    5 — 15 15 1

Tumwater    003    000    0 — 3 6 4

    Batteries: W.F. West — Ali Graham, Kalynn Randt (4) and Amber Taylor; Tumwater — Kierstin Smith and Alexa McDaniel