TACOMA — The rain came late Tuesday evening at Sprinker Recreation Center, ending the Class 3A bi-district softball tournament before its conclusion.
Not that it mattered to the three teams from the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League, who all advanced to the state tournament by taking very different routes.
Union got it done the easy way, Prairie chose the difficult path, and Camas earned its spot only after being blessed by a break in the weather early in the day.
Camas captains Kelsi Krill and Ali Kruger had a plan.
“I told Ali, ‘You better talk to the weather gods and make it stop raining.’ It worked for a little while,” Krill said.
That’s all Camas needed, too.
The Papermakers, who lost their first-round game and then survived a consolation game Monday, needed to win one more game Tuesday in order to advance to state. Tournament directors had already decided that the eight first-round winners from Monday would advance to state if Tuesday’s early games could not be played.
So yes, the Papermakers needed the tournament to continue, at least for a few hours.
“It’s amazing. I can’t even describe this,” Kruger said. “It’s just awesome. We got the chance to go to state.”
And the Papermakers took advantage, scoring five runs in the third inning to take a commanding lead, then holding off Port Angeles 9-4 in the winner-to-state, loser-out game.
Camas was going to take on league rival Prairie at 5 p.m. in a seeding game, but the rain ended that contest before it began.
Union was tied 1-1 in its championship semifinal with Bonney Lake when the tournament was called. Officials declared Union, Bonney Lake, Franklin Pearce of Tacoma, and Capital of Olympia as the four bi-district champions for 2010. All four will be “No. 1” seeds to the state tournament.
Prairie, Camas, Mount Rainier of Des Moines, and Enumclaw were the final four teams in the consolation bracket, earning the bi-district’s final four spots to state.
Union’s Brittney Dawson had a run-scoring triple in the first inning and came home on an error for a quick 2-0 lead and Kadi Henderson hit a home run in a 5-3 victory over Mount Rainier in the quarterfinals Tuesday, clinching a spot to state. Mariah Dawson struck out 14, giving her 31 in two games in this tournament.
The Titans, who finished third at state last year, won the bi-district in 2009. Technically, they got another one this year, but they were hoping to win it on their own, on the field.
“It felt really good to make it to state, but we wanted to finish off this tournament,” Mariah Dawson said. “We lost district, so we wanted to win (bi-district). We wanted to go to state looking good.”
Prairie, which finished fourth at state last year, needed some dramatics to return to state. The Falcons, who lost in the quarterfinals 3-1 to Capital, trailed late in their winner-to-state, loser-out game against Peninsula.
Jessi Duncan got a two-run single in the sixth inning to tie the game, then freshman Taylor Bussey had a two-run single in the eighth inning, leading the Falcons to a 5-3 victory.
“This means everything,” said Duncan, also Prairie’s ace pitcher. “This is my senior year. I wanted to get back to state.”
She said the players had a team meeting to remind everyone what was at stake.
“As a team, we’re going to get this done, together,” Duncan recalled.
“It was such a relief,” Prairie coach Dawn Rowe said. “I was thinking we worked so hard, it can’t end now. Jessi Duncan threw her brains out. She deserves to go to state.”
This is the second year in a row the league has sent three teams to the state tournament. This will be Camas’ first trip to state since 2002, when they won the Papermakers won the championship.
Camas finished fourth in the 3A GSHL’s regular season.
“It just shows how competitive our league is,” Krill said.
