There was no doubt that W.F. West was looking for revenge on Wednesday at Fort Borst Park.
The Bearcats were looking to avoid being swept by the Tigers after losing their first two meetings, and they were hoping to spoil Centralia's senior night.
And when that potential victory would also knock their rivals out of postseason contention?
“It was sweet,” W.F. West coach Kevin Zylstra said with a smile. “I’ll take a win over Centralia anytime.”
The Bearcats took control early and never looked back, scoring seven runs in the first two innings of the game en route to a dominant 9-1 win.
The win locks W.F. West into the No. 3 seed in the upcoming district tournament, while Centralia is eliminated from district tournament contention.
“I gotta hand it to Centralia,” Zylstra said. “They came out and just beat us twice. Historically, we’re not used to that … Whether or not we wanted to admit it, I think all of us came in thinking ‘this can’t happen again.’ The girls took care of business.”
Like the first two matchups, the Bearcats struck first.
Taylor Tobin opened the scoring with a two-run single in the top of the first, and after an error brought home another run, Tanner Tobin knocked in two more with a double later in the inning.
In the second inning, Karlee Coleman hit a sacrifice fly, and Taylor Tobin hit another RBI single to make it 7-0.
“The girls were hitting the ball all over the place,” Zylstra said.
Adrianne Lynch entered the game in the circle in the third and helped settle things down for the Tigers, but Taylor Tobin kept them off balance at the plate.
She went on to allow just five hits and one run while walking one and striking out three in a complete-game effort. She also added three hits and three runs batted in at the plate.
“Taylor did a great job today,” Zylstra said. “She did everything we asked her to do.”
Addison Froschauer added three hits and scored three runs, while Avalon Myers added two hits and three runs and Rayah Middleton added a double and two RBIs.
Centralia’s lone run came in the bottom of the sixth, when Makenzie Erickson hit an RBI single, but that only made a tiny dent in what had become a 9-0 deficit.
“Beating anybody three times is tough,” Centralia coach David Orr said. “Beating Chehalis three times, we definitely wanted that. But it was gonna be an uphill battle.”
Over five innings, Lynch allowed just five hits and two earned runs while walking one and striking out two. Chloe Bonomi finished with two hits in her final game at Fort Borst Park, while Erickson, Payton Baumel, and Madalynn Rothdeutsch also added hits.
Orr said that he was happy to honor his three seniors — Bomoni, Erickson, and Hollynn Wakefield — before the game, but he added that he wished that the Tigers could have locked up their playoff position before such an emotional outing against their biggest rival.
Had Centralia (6-11, 4-10 2A EvCo) won, it would have made Friday’s season finale against Black Hills a win-and-in matchup. Instead, the Wolves clinched the EvCo’s final playoff spot despite a loss to Tumwater.
“Senior nights are always tough,” Orr said. “There’s a lot of extra emotion on the field … I love the seniors, and I want to recognize them. They’re great kids, and they’re gonna be missed dearly.”
Orr added that there is still a lot to be optimistic about moving forward for the program, which he hopes begins with a victory in that season finale.
“I’m not discouraged,” Orr said. “If we can finish the season competitively and the girls are having fun, then that’s a win for us.”
W.F. West (11-8, 8-6 2A EvCo) is locked into the EvCo’s No. 3 seed, meaning the Bearcats will host a pigtail matchup on Tuesday at Recreation Park.
Before that, they’ll look to snag their final regular season game against Aberdeen on Friday. The Bobcats have taken both meetings so far this season, but Zylstra is confident that W.F. West has what it takes to win the finale.
“We made a ton of errors (in the last matchup), and that’s not gonna happen at our place,” Zylstra said. “I’m really looking forward to that game.”
