STATE SOFTBALL: Titans top Falcons for third

Mariah Dawson Union pitcher

TACOMA — The Union Titans showed all season that they were the class of Class 3A softball from Clark County.

Saturday, they proved it once again, this time in the final game of the year, beating league rival Prairie 2-0 in the third-place game at the Class 3A state tournament.

Mariah Dawson struck out 16 Prairie batters, but it was senior Lindsay Sasse who was piled on after the final out. Sasse, the left-fielder, made a diving catch in foul territory to end the game, and before she could get up, the rest of the Titans were on top of her.

"I've never done it before," Sasse said. "It was pretty awesome."

Actually, none of the Titans have done anything like this.

The second-year school in its first trip to state took home a trophy. It might not have been the trophy they were hoping for when the tournament began on Friday, but it is hardware.

"Our goal was to place at state, and we placed at state," fellow senior Jamie Henderson said.

"We made our goal," Sasse proclaimed.

Union went 5-1 at the tournament, its only loss coming in the championship quarterfinals Friday afternoon. The Titans, who have three seniors, then won four in a row, including three Saturday, to grab third.

Prairie, meanwhile, took home fourth place and has no seniors on its roster. Pitcher Jessi Duncan gave up two unearned runs in the first inning against Union, then shut down the Titans the rest of the way.

"I'm extremely proud of our team," said Duncan, a junior. "All I see is bigger and better next year. If we made it fourth in state this year with all these sophomores and freshmen, I can only expect better in the years ahead. I think people underestimated us this year. We're here, and we're going to be here for a while."

In the 4A tournament, Mountain View went 1-1 on Saturday and missed out in its bid for a trophy. The Thunder beat Emerald Ridge of South Hill 3-0 on Kelly Lowe's no-hitter, but then lost to Auburn Riverside 4-0 in the consolation semifinals.

By the end of the day at South End Recreation Area, it was a Clark County 3A party on the Green field.

Alexis Cline opened the game by reaching base on an error, and Henderson followed with a single. Two outs later, Dawson blasted a double to the fence, scoring two runs.

"I haven't been hitting (well) all weekend," she said. "I guess I cowgirl'd up when we needed it, and it paid off."

Her bat might have been off for much of the weekend, but not her pitching. Dawson struck out 75 batters in 38 innings, and the lone Union loss was a 1-0 decision.

Even with all those strikeouts, the Union defense stayed sharp during their opportunities. Prairie's first hit against Dawson came in the fourth inning when Chantal Paradise drove a shot to the fence for a double. But Paradis was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple off of a perfect relay from Sasse to shortstop Katie Hertenstein to Henderson playing third.

In the seventh, Chelsea Creech's one-out double put the tying run to the plate for Prairie.

Dawson reminded her teammates that there was one out, and tapped herself on the chest and said, "I've got this." She then struck out the next batter.

"I gave up the hit, so I knew I had to come back," Dawson said. "When I give up a hit, I come back stronger and throw to the next batter harder than I threw to the last one."

She didn't need a strikeout to end the game. Sasse's diving catch sealed the victory.

Union coach Alex Perry said he was proud of the way his players bounced back after losing in the championship quarterfinals Friday.

"They had real high expectations, and then they regrouped last night so this is real sweet, a real sweet win," Perry said. "It sets the stage for the start of a very good program."

While the future looks solid for the Titans, Perry also noted the play of his seniors. Sasse and Henderson each got hits in their final at-bats, and each made a play for an out in the bottom of the seventh.

The Titans got to the third-place game Saturday with a come-from-behind, 4-2 victory over Sedro-Woolley, then a 6-3 win over Mount Rainier of Des Moines. Henderson and Sasse got the key hits in a four-run sixth inning against Sedro-Woolley, and the Titans jumped out to a 6-0 lead over Mount Rainier.

Prairie also needed some dramatics to reach the trophy game. After rolling to a 7-2 win over Shadle Park of Spokane, the Falcons got a run-scoring double from Creech in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 2-1 win over Enumclaw.

In the 4A tournament, Mountain View's third consecutive trip to the tournament ended a game short of a trophy.

"I'm proud of the year that we had, and I'm going to miss all the girls," senior Amanda Livingston said. "This is the best team I've ever been on, and I'm really proud of the year."