CORRECTION: Due to a source error, a previous version of this article contained incorrect information. The Aberdeen girls swim team won a state title in 2008.

Aberdeen saved its best softball for when it mattered most as the Bobcats swept through the 2A State Tournament to claim its first softball state-championship.

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2A State Championship

Aberdeen 2, Port Angeles 1

The Aberdeen Bobcats ended their season in the best way possible, by making history.

The Cats turned their childhood dreams into reality with a gutsy 2-1 win over No. 3 Port Angeles in the 2A State Championship game on Saturday at Carlon Park in Selah.

Aberdeen (23-4 overall) got a clutch home run by center fielder Rylee Hendrickson and rode another outstanding performance in the circle from pitcher Lilly Camp to defeat the Roughriders 2-1 and secure the first softball state championship in school history.

“From the regular season, to the district and state tournament, the team never backed down under pressure,” Aberdeen head coach Jimmy McDaniel said. “They showed how resilient they are and they battled through every challenge, proving they belonged at the highest level.”

As they had done for the third time in four tournament games, Aberdeen’s offense struck early.

Against a quality Port Angeles team where runs were likely to be at a premium, the Bobcats got rolling in the top of the first when leadoff hitter Scotlyn Lecomte singled and advanced to second on a one-out single by catcher Alyssa Yakovich.

Pitcher Lilly Camp then doubled to drive in Lecomte for the game’s first run, but Yakovich was cut down trying to score for the second out of the frame.

Leading 1-0 with one out and none on in the second, Hendrickson stepped to the plate and took Heidi Leitz’s 0-2 fastball over the left-field fence for a solo home run and a 2-0 lead.

“Scoot up in the box, wait for it and make sure I got my barrel to the ball,” Hendrickson said of her approach in the at-bat. “She threw it right down the middle and I got my barrel to it at the perfect time. From the moment it hit the bat, I knew it was gone. You could feel it off of the bat. There was no weight to the ball whatsoever.”

The ball sailed over the fence, 10 feet from the foul pole to put Aberdeen up 2-0.

“When I hit home plate, Alyssa (Yakovich) told me I had just hit a state-championship game home run. The realization that I did that hit once she said that.”

“I knew that we had it then,” said Camp, who had given up one unearned run the entire tournament to that point. “I was so excited for her and our team. I was jumping up and down and the first one out of the dugout.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen’s Maysinn Jones (left), Abby Mainio (10) and Lilly Camp give high-fives during the 2A State Championship game against Port Angeles on Saturday at Carlon Park in Selah.

Meanwhile, Camp wiggled out of a two-out, two-on jam by striking out Lexie Smith to end the first and retired seven straight before a leadoff single by Kennedy Rognlien in the bottom of the fourth.

Later in the frame, Smith doubled to right to drive in Rognlien, but rounded second a bit too far off the bag and was tagged out by shortstop Zoe Vessey for a key second out of the inning.

“We felt really confident. Our defense played very well,” Vessey said. “We’ve played pretty good defense this whole year, so even if they did hit, I was confident in all the girls, always.”

Camp then got Sophia Ritchie to ground out to Britten Neal at third to end the frame.

Needing nine outs to secure a highly-sought after state title, Camp found another level.

The Bobcats right-hander who had already raised her game at the state tournament, took it further by striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to preserve Aberdeen’s slim one-run lead.

Aberdeen’s offense continued to make good contact through the middle innings, but struggled to score against Port Angeles reliever Lynzee Reid, who allowed one hit and struck out three in four innings of scoreless relief and was backed by an error-free Roughriders defense.

Leading by a run with just three outs left to go, Camp quickly got Abby Kimball to fly out to Lecomte near the foul line in left before some strange happenings were afoot.

With Smith at the dish, Camp was called for not one but two illegal pitches giving Smith a 2-0 count before the Aberdeen hurler threw a pitch.

Camp appeared confused by the ruling at the time and Smith followed by working a 3-1 count, nearly putting the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate.

But Camp remained laser-focused, getting Smith to fly out to Audree Gaddis in left to put Aberdeen one out away from championship glory.

“I was on the mound and then the batter took a time out … and then I went back on the mound and (the umpire) said ‘Illegal pitch,’ so I stepped off and went back on the mound and then he said, ‘Illegal pitch,’” Camp said. “He said that I had to have the ball in my glove when I step on the mound. But I wasn’t worried about it. I was down 2-0 but it wasn’t that big of a deal. … I just told myself to spin this ball good and as hard as I could.”

With freshman Ritchie at the plate, Camp secured her and her team’s legacy, throwing a hard, rising fastball past Ritchie for strike three, completing Aberdeen’s emphatic state-championship run on the final pitch of her incredible prep career.

Overcome with emotion, Camp bent over to her knees as her teammates rushed to the circle to join her in a cheering, screaming, tear-filled joyous moment of celebration.

“After I threw that last pitch, it was just unbelievable that we are the state champions,” Camp said. “I realized that was my last strikeout being an Aberdeen Bobcat. It was really overwhelming, but a great feeling.”

“I was just so proud of my team for all the hard work and pain we’ve gone through just to get to that moment,” Lecomte said. “Everyone played their part and I was just so incredibly proud of everyone.”

“I was grateful that we were able to end on a win, but I was also sad and crying because it was my last game playing with all of them together,” Vessey said. “It was a mixture of very happy and sad that we were done.”

Camp solidified herself as the best pitcher in the 2A class this season and arguably the entire state with her performance at the state tournament. In her 24 innings pitched at the tourney, Camp allowed just one earned run on 11 hits and four walks while striking out 53 batters, which was 60% of the batters she faced.

Camp had help as the Aberdeen defense supported her with just two errors in the tournament and allowed 12 total bases to their opponents.

The state championship was the first for an Aberdeen team since the girls swim team won in 2008, and just the second since the boys basketball program won state way back in 1982.

It’s a safe bet that with Saturday’s state championship, the 2025 Bobcats softball team will have their own plaque hanging up on the Hall of Fame wall outside of Sam Benn Gym.

Aberdeen 110 000 0 – 2 6 0

Port Angeles 000 100 0 – 1 3 0

WP: Camp (7 IP, R, ER, 3H, BB, 13K). LP: Leitz (3 IP, 2R, 2ER, 5H, BB, 4K).

Leading hitters: Aberdeen – Hendrickson (1-3, HR, R, RBI); Camp (1-3, 2B, RBI); Lecomte (1-3, R, SB); Yakovich (1-2, BB); Vessey (1-3); Gaddis (1-3, SB). Port Angeles – Rognlien (2-3, 2B, R); Smith (1-3, RBI).

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen catcher Alyssa Yakovich (left) and her Bobcats teammates defeated Port Angeles 2-1 to win the program’s first softball state championship on Saturday in Selah.

2A State Semifinal

Aberdeen 5, Tumwater 0

Whenever Aberdeen and Tumwater square off in a softball game, there is much at stake.

But those stakes were so much more than usual as their fourth meeting this season was for a spot in the 2A State Championship game.

When the dust settled, Aberdeen had humbled the top-seeded Thunderbirds with a convincing 5-0 win in the state semifinals on Saturday in Selah.

Both teams’ aces – Aberdeen’s Lilly Camp and Tumwater Ella Ferguson – dueled for three full scoreless innings in what has become the norm in the rivalry’s recent hard-fought contests.

That all changed in the top of the fourth when Bobcats first baseman Maysinn Jones doubled and later scored on Rylee Hendrickson’s one-out double.

Shortstop Zoe Vessey followed with a single to drive in Hendrickson for a 2-0 lead.

Two frames later, Vessey walked and left fielder Audree Gaddis singled to put runners on first and second with two outs.

Right fielder Scotlyn Lecomte then doubled to right field, driving Vessey and Gaddis for a 4-0 lead and taking the wind out of Tumwater’s sails.

“You could see there was a major change in their dugout compared to ours,” Aberdeen head coach Jimmy McDaniel said. “Any positive action that took place in that game, it slowly demoralized Tumwater.”

“We know they are incredible hitters and could comeback really fast,” Bobcats right fielder Scotlyn Lecomte said. “But we have so much strength in Lilly and we have a great defense. I just knew we had it right there.”

“We could see a really big change in Tumwater’s attitudes and they just went downhill from there,” Camp said. “Their whole dugout was being quiet, so we just knew that we had it. We kept our energy up the entire time and I didn’t change anything.”

“You could definitely see they were down and didn’t have much left in them for that game,” Vessey said.

In the top of the seventh, catcher Alyssa Yakovich led off with a double and came in to score on a double by pitcher Lilly Camp for a 5-0 lead.

That turned out to be plenty of runs for Camp, who worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh and got some help from her defense when second baseman Abby Mainio raced over into foul territory to make a full-sprint running catch of a Ferguson pop up to end the game, sending Aberdeen to the state championship.

Camp beat her league rivals for the second-straight time, dominating Tumwater over seven shutout inning. The Cats ace allowed just three hits and a walk with 16 strikeouts in her third stellar performance of the tournament.

“I think it was just a really big mental game,” Camp said. “I just try to do my best to shut them down, throw strikes, spin the ball good and make sure it goes where it needs to be.”

Aberdeen 000 202 1 – 5 11 1

Tumwater 000 000 0 – 0 3 0

WP: Camp (7 IP, 0R, 3H, BB, 16K). LP: Ferguson (7 IP, 5R, 5ER, 11H, 3BB, 9K).

Leading hitters: Aberdeen – Lecomte (3-4, 2B, 2RBI); Yakovich (2-4, 2B, R); Camp (1-4, RBI); Hendrickson (1-4, 2B, R, RBI); Vessey (1-1, R, RBI, 2BB); Gaddis (1-3, R). Tumwater – Fields (1-3); La Praim (1-3); Ferguson (1-3).

2A State Quarterfinal

Aberdeen 10, Olympic 0

Aberdeen completed its first day of competition at the 2A State Tournament with its second 10-run rule victory of the day.

The Bobcats scored early and got another stellar pitching performance from senior ace Lilly Camp to beat No. 5 Olympic 10-0 in a state-quarterfinal matchup on Friday at Carlon Park.

Aberdeen took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Maysinn Jones two-run single and an RBI double off the bat of Rylee Hendrickson.

In the bottom of the third, Jones tripled and scored on a Trojans error to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Bobcats added four runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Scotlyn Lecomte and Alyssa Yakovich and a Lilly Camp double for an 8-0 lead.

Aberdeen earned the walk-off victory when freshman pinch-hitter Cheyanna Kohn singled to drive in Madisyn Baker and Ally Adams for a 10-0 win.

Camp was once again dominant in the circle. The Cats right-hander allowed just two hits while striking out 14 in five-shutout innings.

Olympic 000 00 – 0 2 2

Aberdeen 301 42 – 10 11 1

WP: Camp (5 IP, 0R, 2H, 14K). LP: Morrison (3.2 IP, 8R, 3ER, 8H, 7K).

Leading hitters: Olympic – Richmond (1-2); Abbay (1-2). Aberdeen – Jones (2-3, 3B, R, 2RBI); Camp (2-3, 2B, RBI); Hendrickson (2-2, 2B, R, RBI); Lecomte (1-2, R, RBI); Yakovich (1-2, 2R, 2RBI); Adams (1-3, R); Vessey (1-3, R); Kohn (1-1, 2RBI).

2A State First Round

Aberdeen 12, Kingston 1

Aberdeen opened its 2A State Tournament run with a convincing 12-1 mercy-rule rout of No. 13 Kingston on Friday in Selah.

Aberdeen’s offense wasted little time hammering Buccaneers pitching scoring four runs in the bottom of the first on a Maysinn Jones single, an Ally Adams double and capped with a two-run triple by center fielder Rylee Hendrickson.

Alyssa Yakovich doubled in the bottom of the second to drive in Britten Neal in the second and put the game away with five runs in the third, including a solo home run by Zoe Vessey and a two-run homer from Yakovich to go up 10-0.

Jones singled to drive in Madisyn Baker and Neal to round out the scoring.

Bobcats pitcher Lilly Camp dominated in the circle, allowing an unearned run on three hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts in five innings of work.

Kingston 000 01 – 1 3 4

Aberdeen 415 02 – 12 13 0

WP: Camp (5 IP, R, 0ER, 3H, 2BB, 10K). LP: Moore (2.2 IP, 9R, 9ER, 10H, 4BB, 2K).

Leading hitters: Kingston – Steele (2-3, RBI); Miller (1-2). Aberdeen – Jones (3-4, 2B, R, 2RBI); Neal (2-3, 3R, SB); Yakovich (2-3, HR, 2R, 3RBI); Hendrickson (1-2, 3B, 2RBI); Vessey (1-3, HR, R, RBI); Lecomte (1-2, R, RBI, SB); Adams (1-3, R, RBI); Gaddis (1-2, R).