After Adna lost its district semifinal on Friday afternoon, Adna coach Bruce Pocklington said that he didn’t feel like the Pirates played “Adna softball.” He hoped that his team would reset and clinch a state spot against Rainier on Saturday morning.
They did not.
Instead, they lost 7-6 against the Mountaineers, but they pulled it together in the nick of time to defeat Forks 13-0 in the 2B District 4 Tournament Fifth-Place Game.
The win puts them through to the state tournament for the 18th consecutive season, according to the WIAA website.
“We were gonna make history one way or the other,” Pocklington said. “I didn’t want it to be the bad way.”
In the game against Forks, the Pirates looked much more like themselves.
After Charlie Myers pitched a 1-2-3 top of the first, Hadleigh Gerard led off the bottom half with a double. Two batters later, Tieander Olson hit a two-run double, and Alyssa Carroll followed with a two-run home run. Khloe Hunt added an RBI single later in the inning to put Adna up 5-0 in the first.
Olson hit a home run to lead off the second, and Presley Strodmeier hit a three-run home to cap a seven-run third.
“We had more energy,” Pocklington said. “I think we were playing as a team better.”
Myers allowed just one hit and walked one batter while striking out eight in the complete-game shutout.
Carroll and Olson both finished with two hits and three RBIs, and Strodmeier also finished with three RBIs. Teagan Baggenstos went a perfect 3 for 3 and scored twice, and Myers, Lena McCloskey, and Gerard finished with two hits and one RBI apiece.
Pocklington was pleased with his group for righting the ship, but he knows they will need to put a better foot forward in Yakima next weekend.
“We gotta do that against quality teams,” Pocklington said. “We’re capable. We’ve seen it happen. I don’t know where we were all weekend, but we weren’t here pitch to pitch. That’s just not like us. I was kind of dumbfounded.
“We need to be mentally tougher than we were this weekend,” he continued. “One thing goes bad, and it can turn into a mess a little bit. That can’t happen when we’re playing what we’re playing for.”
What Adna is playing for is something no 2B team has ever done. Last spring, the Pirates became the first 2B team to three-peat, and now they are vying to become the third team across all classifications to win four straight state titles (Colton won six straight 1B titles from 2009-14 and Royal won four straight 1A championships from 1983-86).
Adna (17-7) will learn its seeding and first round opponent for the state tournament on Sunday, when the WIAA releases the state tournament brackets. The Pirates first-round game will be at either 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.
“We will be ready to go Friday to Saturday,” Pocklington said. “If we aren't, it'll be a short weekend.”
