Starting a bit slow in its first game, the Adna softball team eventually got rolling and downed Raymond-South Bend and Forks, both by scores of 9-1, to move on to yet another 2B District 4 title game.
“This is where we want to be,” Pirates coach Bruce Pocklington said. “We just have to regroup in the next couple of days and move on to the next one.”
Playing in front of their largest crowds of the season at Fort Borst Park in Centralia Wednesday afternoon, the Pirates slowly chipped in a few runs in the early innings before separating in the opening round against RSB, with five runs in the sixth.
It all started in the circle for Adna, with Ava Simms pitching all 14 innings Wednesday and striking out 14 in Game 1 against the Ravens. The one run RSB managed was unearned.
For good measure, Simms added a 3 for 4 line at the dish with an RBI, and Karlee VonMoos went 2 for 3 with a home run and four RBIs.
“We took awhile to get going, but we eventually got going,” Pocklington said. “We pitched pretty well and defended well. We made some baserunning mistakes, the first game we had nine flyballs early and then finally hit it down a bit.”
In the semifinals against Forks, another 9-1 win, Brooklyn Loose joined the hit party with two home runs on a 4 for 4 day with 3 RBIs and four runs scored. Simms went 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs and Kendall Humphrey went 2 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs.
“She’s just hitting it, she’s doing a great job,” Pocklington said of Loose. “Our top five or six are taking turns contributing at the plate each game, and that’s what we need.”
Simms again pitched a strong Game 2 with 13 strikeouts, bringing her total over 14 innings to 27 total Ks.
“She made us play defense and she threw a lot of strikes,” Pocklington said. “When you’re throwing that many pitches in a day you’re gonna make a few mistakes, but she threw really well today and that’s what we need out of her.”
The wins set up Adna to defend its district title from a year ago against one of the hottest pitchers in the state in Ocosta’s Jessie Gilbert.
The Wildcat ace hasn’t allowed a hit in all three district games she’s played in, and has 51 strikeouts over that same span.
The Pirates and Wildcats will duke it out Saturday at 6 p.m. back at Borst for the district title.
“We’re going to have to shorten up and put it in play and make them play defense,” Pocklington said. “We’re going to introduce ourselves to her.”
