Titans Drop 9-Inning Thriller to Bulldogs

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YAKIMA — The Pe Ell-Willapa Valley softball team’s journey to defend its state title, which began with a 11-1 win over Kittitas on Friday morning, hit a snag Friday, as the Titans fell 6-5 in extra innings to No. 3 Okanogan.

PWV, which needed a run in the top of the seventh to tie the game in the first place, scored a run in the top of the ninth on a Lauren Matlock RBI double, giving the Titans a 5-4 lead. But Okanogan answered with a pair of singles to tie the game, before hitting a walk-off RBI single with two outs.

Matlock finished with a whale of a game at the plate, going 4 for 5 with two triples and a double. Right behind her in the order, Jillian Hodel went 3 for 4, and behind those two, Payton Peterson and Grace Huber both had two hits.

Both Matlock and Hodel finished their day with six hits across the two games.

The bottom five batters in the PWV order, though, managed just a pair of knocks against Okanogan, after combining for four against Kittitas..

Lauren Emery took the tough-luck loss, going all nine innings in the circle for PWV. She struck out 13 — finishing with 23 punchouts on the day — and allowed five runs on 11 hits.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley will fall to the consolation bracket and try to play its way to third place Saturday. The Titans will face No. 3 Warden at 10 a.m., and will need to win three games to finish third.