Playing in arguably the toughest district tournament in the state, Aberdeen reached the state playoff for the third-straight season with a win over Ridgefield on Friday in Chehalis.
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2A District 4 elimination game
Aberdeen 4, Ridgefield 0
Facing elimination, the Aberdeen Bobcats were not going to let a superb season come to a disappointing end.
Lilly Camp dazzled in the circle and the Bobcats offense came up with some timely hits to defeat Ridgefield 4-0 in a 2A District 4 elimination game on Friday at Recreation Park in Chehalis, earning a ticket to the state tournament in the process.
The Bobcats (19-4 overall) were afforded two extra outs by the Spudders (19-5) when two runners reached on dropped third strikes with two outs in the bottom of the first, allowing outfielder Scotlyn Lecomte – on board with a leadoff single – to advance to third base.
Ally Adams then singled to score Lecomte for the game’s first run.
Aberdeen had another two-out rally in the second when standout catcher Alyssa Yakovich stepped to the dish with runners on second and third.
Yakovich singled to drive in left fielder Audree Gaddis and third baseman Britten Neal for a 3-0 lead.
Ridgefield threatened in the top of the fourth when Bailey Wolski doubled to left with one out and advanced to third on a Madeline Bruguier single with two outs.
But Camp responded to strikeout Gracie Olmos looking to strand the runners and end the threat.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen pitcher Lilly Camp pitched a complete-game shutout during the Bobcats’ 4-0 win over Ridgefield in a 2A District 4 elimination game on Friday in Chehalis.
With Neal on second with a two-out single and a stolen base in the fourth, Yakovich clutched up again, singling to center to drive in Neal for a 4-0 lead.
“Look for pitches in the zone,” Yakovich said of her approach at the plate. “Pitch selection sometimes doesn’t come as easy and you really have to focus in. Make sure you can find a pitch you can hit.”
Ridgefield wouldn’t threaten again until the top of the seventh inning when Olmost walked and Josslyn Casteel singled with one out.
After Camp struck out Tava Whitlow, a Bobcats error on a weak grounder by Charlie Harris loaded the bases, bringing Abbey Hite to the plate representing the tying run.
“I was worried, that’s me as a coach, I worry,” Aberdeen head coach Jimmy McDaniel said of the Spudders’ late rally. “Especially with that team, all of their hitters are strong and any of them can put one over. That easily could’ve been a tie ballgame.”
But Camp remained poised, striking out Hite on three pitches, with Yakovich picking up a dropped third strike and stepping on home plate to end the game and send the Bobcats into the state tournament for the third-consecutive year.
“It means a lot that I get to go to state with some of my best friends and my coach for the last time and play my last couple of games there,” said Camp, who will conclude her spectacular prep career as one of the greatest pitcher’s in Aberdeen’s history.
Camp finished the complete-game shutout allowing seven hits with one walk and 15 strikeouts, giving her 55 strikeouts in the tournament and bringing her season record to 18-3 with a 0.51 ERA and 289 strikeouts.
“Spin first and let it go,” McDaniel said of the coaching staff’s philosophy with Camp, which is for her to focus on executing the pitch rather than trying to throw hard. “When she does that, she can take anybody.”
Less than 24 hours after throwing a total of 245 pitches on Thursday, Camp said the key to her success on Friday was getting rest and staying loose.
“I slept in this morning,” quipped the senior right-hander. “I just tried to come out and stay as relaxed as I can and try to not muscle it, just stay relaxed and ready.”
Yakovich (.440, 1.08 OPS, 23 RBI) went 2 for 3 with three RBI to lead the Bobcats offense.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen catcher Alyssa Yakovich (2) singles during the Bobcats’ 4-0 win over Ridgefield in a 2A District 4 elimination game on Friday in Chehalis.
Adams (.333) also had a pair of hits for Aberdeen.
With the win, Aberdeen advances to its third-straight 2A State Tournament, looking to improve on its program-best fourth-place finish from two seasons ago.
Reaching state out of the District 4 this season was no small feat as five of the WIAA RPI top-15 ranked teams were playing in the tournament, including the top three teams in the state in Mark Morris, Tumwater and Aberdeen.
The Bobcats were more than happy to be one of those teams to make it through the district gauntlet.
“We worked hard. We trusted our training and we kept it up, no matter how tired we were or how rainy it was outside,” Yakovich said. “We kept our energy up and did what we know how to do.”
“I think the best thing for us is to stay as loud as possible because we get our momentum going when we stay loud,” Camp said. “And just be there for everyone, pick everyone up and go out hard and ball out.”
McDaniel said his team’s mental sharpness that has been honed throughout the season was key to making it to state once again.
“We knew it was going to be a fight to get back (to state). We always expect to fight and the overall talk is that we don’t underestimate anybody,” he said. “Trust that all the training has paid off and we’re not overthinking at the plate or in the field. Let our body read and react to everything and the mechanics will take over. … Having confidence in themselves is the biggest thing for them. I always point at my head and say, ‘Win it here.’ When they are mentally focused, they are capable of anything.”
Aberdeen enters the 2A State Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will face No. 13 Kingston (13-10) at 11 a.m. on Friday in a first-round game at Carlon Park in Selah.
Ridgefield 000 000 0 – 0 7 1
Aberdeen 120 100 x – 4 9 1
WP: Camp (7 IP, 0R, 7H, BB, 15K). LP: Smith (6 IP, 4R, 3ER, 9H, BB, 8K).
Leading hitters: Lecomte (2-4, R); Yakovich (2-3, 3RBI); Adams (2-3, RBI); Neal (1-3, 2R); Gaddis (1-3, R). Ridgefield – Harris (3-4); Hite (1-4); Wolski (1-3); Bruguier (1-3); Casteel (1-3).
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2A District 4 semifinal
Mark Morris 3, Aberdeen 2
Aberdeen lost a shot at a district-championship with a 3-2 extra-inning loss to Mark Morris on Thursday in Chehalis.
In a pitcher’s dual between Aberdeen ace Lilly Camp and Monarchs hurler Makenzie Henthorn, the Bobcats broke a scoreless tie when junior catcher Alyssa Yakovich reached after being hit by a pitch in the top of the fourth and eventually came in to score on a wild pitch.
Aberdeen doubled its lead when left fielder Audree Gaddis led off the fifth with a single and scored on third baseman Britten Neal’s one-out triple.
But Mark Morris scored its first run of the game on its first base hit, a two-out double off the bat of Grace Woodbridge in the bottom of the fifth.
The Monarchs tied the game when Megan Fugleberg doubled to drive in Piasley Fraidenburg in the sixth.
With runners at first and second and no outs in the frame, Camp struck out the next three batters to keep the score tied at 2-2.
The Bobcats had a chance to regain the lead in the seventh with runners at the corners and two outs. But Henthorn got Yakovich to fly out to Woodbridge in left to end the threat.
With a runner placed on second base to start the bottom of the 10th inning, Fraidenburg drove Camp’s 2-2 pitch to center field for a double, scoring Woodbridge with the game-winning run.
Henthorn and Camp – two future NCAA DI pitchers – both sparkled in the circle.
Henthorn allowed one earned run on five hits with a walk and 17 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched.
Camp took the loss, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three walks and a whopping 24 strikeouts in 9 1-3 innings of work.
Camp threw 161 pitches, bringing her total pitch count on Thursday to 245.
Neal led the Bobcats offense with two hits and an RBI.
Aberdeen 000 110 000 0 – 2 5 0
Mark Morris 000 011 000 1 – 3 5 3
WP: Henthorn (10 IP, 2R, ER, 5H, BB, 17K). LP: Camp (9.1 IP, 2R, 2ER, 5H, 3BB, 24K).
Leading hitters: Aberdeen – Neal (2-5, 3B, RBI); Gaddis (1-4, R, SB); Camp (1-5); Hendrickson (1-3). Mark Morris – Fraidenburg (2-5, 2B, R, RBI); Fugleberg (1-4, 2B, RBI); Woodbridge (1-4, 2B, R, RBI).
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RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Zoe Vessey had a home run and five RBI in a district-tournament win over Woodland on Thursday in Chehalis.
2A District 4 quarterfinal
Aberdeen 7, Woodland 0
Aberdeen opened its district-tournament run with a 7-0 win over Woodland in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday in Chehalis.
The Bobcats were led by senior shortstop Zoe Vessey, who drove in the first five runs of the game.
Vessey doubled to right to drive in center fielder Rylee Hendrickson and Ally Adams in the bottom of the second inning and put the Cats up 5-0 with a two-out, three-run home run to right field in the fourth.
Aberdeen courtesy runner Madisyn Baker scored on a Beavers error in the fifth and Adams put the Bobcats up 7-0 with a leadoff home run in the sixth.
Star Aberdeen right-hander Lilly Camp dominated the Woodland offense, scattering three hits with one walk in 16 strikeouts in tossing a complete-game shutout.
Vessey went 2 for 3 with a run scored and five RBI to lead the Aberdeen offense.
Woodland 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
Aberdeen 020 311 x – 7 6 1
WP: Camp (7 IP, 0R, 3H, BB, 16K). LP: Huffman (6 IP, 7R, 6ER, 6H, 3BB, K).
Leading hitters: Woodland – Christensen (1-3); Barrow (1-3); Skelton (1-3, SB). Aberdeen – Vessey (2-3, HR, 2B, R, 5RBI); Adams (1-2, HR, 3R, RBI); Hendrickson (1-3, 2R); Camp (1-3).
