There’s been a common theme around the Tumwater and Black Hills softball programs this spring.
For the T-Birds, they’ve answered every loss with an offensive explosion. And in the case of the upstart Wolves, it’s been a second half rally to even get into the district tournament.
Both will get to stick around for at least one more game at Recreation Park.
Tumwater blew Woodland out of the water behind three home runs to win a 16-2, five-inning elimination contest while Maddie Knight’s go-ahead solo homer in the top of the sixth gave Black Hills a 3-2 triumph over Columbia River to stay afloat.
“They learned how to battle a little bit,” Wolves head coach Mike Vessey said. “Baby steps got us to where we are. That shows us a lot about this team.”
It’s a Wolves (6-16) roster that only has one senior and one junior. And yet after getting smashed by Mark Morris 18-0 in the quarterfinals plus trailing 2-0 early to the Rapids, they responded.
Which is what they’ve been doing ever since their first win of the season back on April 22 versus Centralia.
“Can we forget about it and move on?” Vessey wondered. “They did.”
Emma Arko notched an RBI single in the third and Makenna Oderman poked a two-out double over the outstretched glove of Rapids second baseman Zaya Ehlers-Bakacs to tie the game in the fifth.
Knight uncorked a leadoff, first pitch shot to center to give Black Hills the lead for good an inning later. The sophomore sits at three home runs in three playoff games.
“She is swinging the bat great. She switched bats recently (with teammate Lily Shipe) and my goodness, what a change,” Vessey said. “Great player, smart player. Will do anything we ask her to do in the field.”
Hannah O’Shurak worked around seven hits and a pair of walks to toss a complete game in the circle. She finished with nine strikeouts and Vessey credited Arko for calling her own pitches, a rarity at the prep level.
Just like Rochester’s final season in 2A two years ago, the Wolves as the EvCo’s No. 4 seed are two wins away from crashing the party and making the state tournament.
“It is a bonus game, but yet this team is capable of a lot,” Vessey said. “Let’s see what happens.”
Tumwater (14-9) broke its elimination game against Woodland open with a nine-run bottom of the second that featured a grand slam from leadoff hitter Megan Barrett. Cleanup hitter Chloe Johnson hit a pair of solo home runs as well.
Its lineup had six hitters record multiple hits. After seven of the losses, the Thunderbirds answered the next game with double digit runs six times.
“We take our losses and we learn from them, we go and adjust,” their head coach Shaunie Kennedy said. “I think just stepping up to the plate with confidence, that is a big deal. You’re going to have a better chance.”
A six-run fourth put the contest out of reach and it set up a fourth meeting with league rival Aberdeen to keep the state tourney hopes alive. The Bobcats took two of the three regular season matchups, but Tumwater won the most recent one 5-3.
The old cliche of one game at a time has served Kennedy and this T-Birds team well all spring.
“Play T-Bird ball,” she said. “They have just as good a chance as any team. We got a hungry group.”
In the 10-3 quarterfinal loss to Ridgefield, Tumwater allowed three runs in the bottom of the second and a five-spot in the fourth. Despite giving up 14 hits, Kennedy felt the game could have been closer had the lineup taken care of business.
That wasn’t the case. Just seven hits to nine strikeouts kept the bats at bay. RBI knocks by Sarah Stevens, Chloe Johnson and a Spudder error were the lone tallies in the contest.
Kiera Rich earned the start in the circle versus Ridgefield, then Stevens came on in relief and the southpaw pitched a complete game versus the Beavers.
