As the old saying goes, “Better late than never.”

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley softball (16-2 overall, 14-2 Central 2B) took a few innings to get things going at the plate, but when the offense finally did come around, it sure did click.

PWV scored six runs in the fifth inning helped propel the Titans to an 8-3 victory over Hoquiam on Wednesday in Hoquiam.

The Grizzlies (7-7, 3-4 Evergreen 1A) got some good pitching from starter English Hyde, who shutout the Titans over the first four innings and got some help from a defense that looked to have improved from its last outing.

Hyde was also effective in helping her own cause, as she drove in a run in the bottom of the first that gave Hoquiam a 2-0 lead.

Maddie German pitched in with the early scoring effort, belting a home run in the third inning.

Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, their offense could only muster one more run the remainder of the game.

The Titans offense, on the other hand, was held scoreless despite threatening with runners on base in both the second and third innings.

PWV coach Ken Olson said that while it took some time for his team to adjust to Hyde’s velocity, they did a better job of making those adjustments than when they previously faced Napavine’s top hurler.

“English is is a hard thrower but we have one in our league, (Napavine’s) Abbie Music. It took us a lot longer to get to Abbie earlier in the season,” he said. “We were able to adjust earlier to Hyde and get to her to hit some balls hard. I was proud of them for that.”

Britney Patrick got the scoring started with a double off the fence to drive in the Titan’s first run. Later, Patrick came around to score when Jeorgi Ritzman hit a double down the right-field line that tied the game at 3-3.

Morgan Coady ended up driving the eventual game-winning run when she hit a run-scoring triple to drive in the team’s fifth run on its third extra base hit of the frame.

The Titans tacked on some insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings while the Hoquiam offense sputtered down the stretch.

Grizzlies head coach Keith Reynvaan was encouraged by the way his team played early on but is still waiting for them to play a complete game.

“I thought we played four really good innings today. But (PWV) made the adjustments at the plate and we didn’t. That was the ball game,” he said.

Hoquiam will get a chance to bounce back from its fifth consecutive loss when they take on another 2B team in Tuesday’s home matchup against Napavine.

Reynvaan is hoping the quick turnaround between games and the strong start to Monday’s game will bolster his team’s confidence.

“Hopefully we can take some positives out of this game,” he said. “I thought we did some pretty good things early so maybe that’s a step in the right direction.”

Winners of four straight, the Titans are looking forward to some time off until they host 1A Evergreen-leading Montesano at 4 p.m. on Monday, May 7.

Olson said he is looking forward to a tough test before districts and noted that Monte’s Samantha Stanfield won’t make things easy on his batters.

“We know what we’re up against” he said. “They were our only loss last year. She is a tough pitcher and we’re going to have to battle.”

PWV 000 061 1 – 8 11 1

Hoquiam 020 100 0 – 3 4 1

WP — Kat. Adkins (4 IP, K, BB, 0 R); LP — Hyde ( 3 BB, 1 K)

Leading hitters: H — Hyde (1-4 RBI), Spardlin (1-4), German (HR). PWV – Coady (2 BB, 2 RBI), Patrick (BB, RBI, SB), Ritzman (2-4, RBI)