A five-run, seven-hit inning did in the Skyview Storm in the Class 4A bi-distrist softball tournament Saturday evening, but it did nothing to quiet any enthusiasm about the coming week.
The Storm are still going to the Class 4A state tournament in Spokane next week.
Rogers of Puyallup used that five-run third inning to beat Skyview 5-2 in the championship semifinals. The Storm then played Tahoma for third place in the bi-district. All the teams had already qualified for state, though. The Saturday games at Sprinker Recreation Center were for seeding purposes only.
Kelsey Meyers pitched Skyview to a 6-4 rain-shortened victory over Tahoma of Federal Way to capture third-place in the tournament.
“We now have to get together and re-set our goals,” Skyview coach Traci Fuller said. “Our goals at the beginning of the season were to win the league championship and make it to state.”
Done and done.
“We’re going to re-set our goals because we’re not satisfied yet,” the coach added. “We think we can do well and compete.”
Skyview took a 2-0 lead over Rogers when Kamille Dobbins and Emily Dobbin each drove in a run in the first inning. Skyview was held scoreless the rest of the way, totalling five hits for the game.
The Storm hustled to another field to begin their third-place game. That’s when Fuller said she was anticipating a team meeting, perhaps early in the week, to talk about the dreams for state in Spokane.
— Paul Valencia
1A softball
Ridgefield clinches state berth — Kory Ryder’s two-run single capped a four-run second inning that propelled the Ridgefield softball team to a 5-2 win over Hoquiam and clinched the Spudders’ first trip to the state tournament since 2006.
“We lost our bats in our first game at district and lost 8-0 to Montesano,” Ridgefield coach Ed Bate said. “But we got them going in our win over La Center and again against Hoquiam.”
Karlee Kammer held Hoquiam to three hits in the state-clinching win.
Ridgefield fell to Montesano 4-3 in the third-place game and will head to state next weekend in Spokane as the No. 4 seed from District 4.
3A tennis
River doubles team places second — Columbia River’s Lauren Wetzel and Julie Piboonvaranggoon advanced all the way to the bi-district doubles championship match before losing to team from Decatur High School to place second, clinching a berth to next week’s 3A state tournament in the Tri-Cities.
Mountain View’s Jenna Grillo and Shari Gray placed third in doubles to also advance to state.
Columbia River’s Chae LeMatta scored two wins Saturday in the consolation round to also clinch a state berth in girls singles. Columbia River finished second in the team standings at thebi-district.
In the boys tournament, two local doubles teams advanced. Dan Garmire and Trevor Jones of Mountain View placed third, while Columbia River’s Chris Perez and Alex Morawski rallied back through the consolation bracket to advance to state.
2A tennis
Hockinson’s Chiou win district — Hockinson’s Michelle Chiou defeated Julie Hansen of Black Hills 6-2, 6-3 to capture the singles championship at the Class 2A district tournament in Lacey. Chiou will advance to the 2A state tournament next week in Seattle.
Also advancing to state was the Washougal doubles team of Allie Reeves and Shelby DeLong, who placed third.
