TACOMA — For three consecutive seasons, the River Ridge Hawks have been one win away from a postseason milestone.
In 2024, the Hawks came close to clinching their first state bid in 16 years but fell one win shy.
Last spring, River Ridge’s season ended one game before a winner-to-state contest.
And on Monday night, the Hawks were the last team to be eliminated from the hunt for a district tournament berth, falling to Silas 16-10 in a district play-in game at Lincoln High School.
Danny Greene’s third season as River Ridge’s head coach was his most challenging yet, as his team was less experienced than the others and dealt with injuries. But, in spite of that, the Hawks still showed plenty of fight with a district trip on the line against Silas.
“We’ve been playing shorthanded all year,” Greene said. “They showed fight. I told them that I always want more because I expect more, and there’s things I can do better. It’s kind of disappointing because I just didn’t see the fire that I’ve seen a couple of times from them this year. We looked flat today.”
It was a messy first inning for River Ridge. Tatum Butterfield led off the frame with a leadoff triple for Silas, and Cailey Howell reached on a dropped third strike. Natalie Medalia, who hit two home runs and drove in five runs in her previous outing at Lincoln Saturday, tripled to score two before an error by River Ridge freed her up to score.
Another infield error put runners on the corners, but starting pitcher Jaylah Sok-Vandergriff punched out the last two batters to leave them stranded.
River Ridge responded in the bottom of the first as Raylie Birklid singled to drive in Emma Liljenberg, taking a bow to the Hawks dugout after reaching second base on a poor throw by Silas. Birklid then scored on another error by the Rams, and Jacklyn Holcomb, who walked earlier in the inning, surprised Silas by attempting to steal home and forced an errant throw to the plate, tying the game at 3-3.
But, perhaps the difference in the game came in the second and third innings. After both teams found offensive success in the first inning, the Rams were able to maintain their rhythm while the Hawks couldn’t catch up for a second time.
Medalia’s second extra-base hit of the evening was a two-run double in the second inning, a frame in which Silas scored three total runs. In the circle, Medalia retired all three Hawks in order in the second, and the Rams extended their lead with four runs in the third, all with two outs. An error at first base by the Hawks would’ve ended the inning and kept the margin at three, but Silas took advantage of the second chance and knocked in a pair of two-run hits to take a 10-3 lead.
The only run River Ridge could collect in the third was scored by Birklid, who came home as Eva Lynch’s grounder forced an error. Two more infield errors by River Ridge put a run on the board for Silas in the fourth. In total, the Hawks committed seven errors in the infield, including four at first base alone.
Greene even tried to make a defensive change at first base, but his replacement was not on the lineup card and therefore could not enter the game.
“Sometimes when you start getting that snowball rolling down, everything gets affected,” he said.
Medalia added to the accumulation of snowballs, cranking a two-run homer to left field in the fifth inning for her third home run in her past two games at Lincoln High School. The Linfield University commit has homered five times in her past three games and has driven in 20 runs in that span.
Birklid responded with a solo homer to right center field, her fifth bomb of the season, to lead off the fifth, and Jessica Clarke added an RBI single in the frame. Up 13-6, Silas bumped its lead to 10 thanks to an RBI double by Butterfield and a two-run triple by Medalia, who finished the day 4 for 4 with eight RBIs.
River Ridge needed one run to stave off a run-rule loss in the sixth and got it from an RBI triple by Sok-Vandergriff. The Hawks totaled four runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it a six-run game, but that was as close as they could get.
Greene gave credit to Silas for “making us play catch-up all game,” adding that the Rams were already on the field deep into their warmups when the Hawks arrived before the game.
“They came in ready to play,” he said. “We couldn’t shut anybody down. I’ve got to do some soul searching because I am the head of the snake. Maybe there’s some things that I can do better.”
River Ridge finishes the season with an 8-11 record and 8-8 mark in the Puget Sound League. Four seniors — Jadyn DaPron, Jaylah Sok-Vandergriff, Eva Lynch and Haleigh Camberg — will move on from the program.
“They’ve all meant a lot to me. I’ve been blessed to have the seniors that I have. We wanted things to go differently, but it didn’t. It is what it is,” Greene said.
The Hawks will return a wealth of contributors in 2027, including Birklid, Holcomb, Liljenberg, Karageorge and Rylee Standard. Greene admitted that returning the team to contention will be difficult, especially with the graduation of several key seniors.
“It’s gonna be tough. We’ve gotta build our program from the bottom because it’s lacking,” he said.
