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.

The margins between history and obscurity in the pantheon of athletic competiton are slim.

After the Aberdeen Bobcats softball team lost in a heartbreaker in extra innings to Mark Morris in the district semifinals, it was one more lost opportunity for the Bobcats to win one of the coveted championship trophies that is the goal of every softball team in the state.

For a group of seniors that had already accomplished so much, reaching the state tournament and winning the school’s first state softball trophy two seasons ago, they were down to their final chance at adding some serious hardware to the school’s trophy case.

But winning a state championship would require the Bobcats to reach another level they had not yet reached, never finishing better than fourth at the state tourney, and they knew it.

A loss at state likely means the best softball team during the most successful three-year run in the program’s history would fade from memory, never having won a district or better yet, state championship.

The Bobcats didn’t want to be forgotten, and after what was one of the most impressive runs the 2A State Tournament has ever seen, they will forever be remembered.

To the keen-eyed observer, it was evident something was different this time around for Aberdeen in its two games on the first day of the 2A State Tournament in Selah.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen seniors (from left) Kadence Braaten, Lilly Camp, Abby Mainio, Zoe Vessey and Scotlyn Lecomte pose with the 2A State Championship trophy after beating Port Angeles 2-1 in the title game on May 24 in Selah.

The fourth-seeded Cats walloped No. 13 Kingston 12-1 in the opening round then hammered No. 5 Olympic 10-0 in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals with two mercy-rule victories.

Those wins were significant in that playing four games in two days can be taxing on a pitching staff, and with Aberdeen riding senior ace Lilly Camp as far as she could take them, four fewer innings on her lightning-bolt of a right arm meant more velocity, stamina and spin rate the following day.

That would come in handy against an all too familiar semifinal opponent in top-seeded Tumwater, Aberdeen’s arch-league nemesis that beat the Bobcats in two of three league meetings this season.

“Our biggest talk leading up to the state tournament was that it was going to go through Tumwater or Mark Morris,” Aberdeen head coach Jimmy McDaniel said. “If we do our thing and get through the first two games, we are going to see Tumwater and we might see Mark Morris again. Myself, the coaches, the players, we loooked forward to playing them again.”

But familiarity has its advantages and if there was one team that wouldn’t be intimidated facing the tournament’s top seed and last season’s state runner-up, it was going to be the Bobcats, which lost two games to Tumwater by one run each and won 6-1 in their last meeting.

“Our coaches just told us the more hungry team was going to win,” Camp said of the pregame prep. “And we came out and were hungry.”

“We went to bed with the mindset to beat Tumwater,” Aberdeen center fielder Rylee Hendrickson said. “We knew we had to be as (assistant coach) Brandon (Siano) likes to say, ‘The hungrier team.’”

“None of us were thinking about losing. We had the menality that we were going to win,” Aberdeen senior shortstop Zoe Vessey said. “We just had to get the bat on ball and get good hits, so we felt confident.”

That they were as the Bobcats sliced and diced the T-Birds. The offense had 11 hits off T-Birds all-state standout pitcher Ella Ferguson, played error-free defense and rode a three-hit, one-walk, 16-strikeout performance from Camp into the state championship game, where they would face another elite pitcher coming of the performance of her career.

As good as Camp was to that point of the tournament, the buzz was surrounding Port Angeles left-hander Heidi Leitz, who had thrown a perfect game with 19 strikeouts to beat Mark Morris 1-0 in the other state semifinal.

But the Bobcats had more pressing matters as Camp had developed blisters on her feet, including one on her heel that was making it extremely difficult for her to walk let alone pitch.

“I could barely walk before we started warming up, so I had to go over to the athletic trainer to get that fixed,” said Camp, who stated she sought out the WIAA’s medical personnel, who used every treatment in her kit to stabilize the blister and keep it from preventing Camp from taking the circle in the most important game of her life. “I was scared I wouldn’t be at my top level and I didn’t think I’d pitch that good. So I went over there and she taped it up good. It felt perfectly fine the entire game. … I was very scared for that, but it was just a mental thing. I knew I just had to go out there and do it one more time for my team.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO The Aberdeen battery of pitcher Lilly Camp (left) and catcher Alyssa Yakovich hold the 2A State Championship trophy after beating Port Angeles 2-1 in the title game on May 24 in Selah.

“She doesn’t show any of her injuries or anthing that could prevent her from doing her job,” Aberdeen senior right fielder Scotlyn Lecomte said. “I could tell a little bit just before the game (Camp was in pain), but she does an indredible job of just powering through it.”

With Camp’s blistered heel wrapped up and ready to go, the Bobcats prepared to take the field for the moment they’ve been dreaming of for at least four years.

“Before every single game we always do a personal goal and a team goal, and our whole personal and team goal was just to win,” Lecomte said of the state-title pre-game preparation. “To win for each other, to win for God and not to regret anything about that game and just to give it our all. That was our one main goal.”

Lecomte was true to her convictions as the speedy leadoff hitter who is never short on hustle blooped a single off Leitz to lead off the game, stole second for her 24 swipe of the season, then came in to score on a double to the left-center field fence by Camp in the top of the first.

One inning later, Aberdeen got a huge insurance run when Hendrickson stepped in and mashed a Leitz pitch over the left-field fence for a solo home run, raising her arms around the bases in exhuberence, ala Rocky reaching the top steps of the Philadephia Museum of Art.

“I look over at it and it starts to tail off and I said, ‘Please don’t go foul. Please don’t go foul.’ And it was a good 10 feet off the foul post,” Hendrickson said. “It honestly felt so exhilerating in the moment. … The way they came together when they came out of the dugout and they were so happy for me, I felt proud of myself in that moment.”

Hendrickson’s bat died a hero after the team realized the bat had chipped on her epic blast.

“I broke my bat. It cracked the paint on the barrel. They took it out of the game,” said Hendrickson, who said she was just trying to get aboard and start a rally. “I really just wanted to get on base so I could move around so we could score. So that was even better, a championship game home run.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen players (from left) Rylee Hendrickson, Alyssa Yakovich and Britten Neal were all smiles while taking photos with the 2A State Championship trophy on May 24 in Selah.

Two runs figured to be enough as Camp and the Cats had allowed just one unearned run to that point of the tournament. But No. 3 Port Angeles beat Camp last season 6-2 at state by trying to get in her head and rattle the Bobcats starter.

A leadoff single by Kennedy Rognlien in the bottom of the fourth led to a run when she scored on a Lexie Smith double, but Aberdeen’s defense helped prevent a rally as Smith reached second. Lecomte chased the ball down at the fence and fired a relay to second baseman Abby Mainio, who threw to Vessey at second base. Smith inexplicably stepped off the bag and was tagged out by Vessey for the second out of the frame.

Camp got Sophia Ritchie to ground out to Britten Neal at third for the final out of the frame, preserving Aberdeen’s 2-1 lead.

“I kept thinking to myself that we only need six more outs, then three more outs,” said the laser-focused Camp. “That was my menatality the entire game.”

Camp retired the next six batters to reach the seventh, where she got some more help from her defense with Lecomte chasing down a fly ball for the first out and left fielder Audree Gaddis racing over to foul territory to grab the second out, putting the Bobcats one out away from history.

Camp was not about to let the opportunity pass her and her teammates by, striking out Ritchie to secure the team’s first ever state championship and first team title for an Aberdeen program since 2008, just the second in 43 years.

The feeling of finally getting over the hurdle and being the team they always thought they could be was a mixture of emotions. It was exhilierating and cathartic and even a bit meloncholy knowing that they finally achieved what they had worked so hard for, but at the same time, the journey for the five seniors who meant so much to the program was over.

“My freshman year, we didn’t make it out of districts,” said Camp, fighting back tears. “I don’t know what I expected my senior year. I was just happy to be there and throw as hard as I could and spin that ball. It means a lot to me and my parents. This is my hometown and I did it for my hometown. We just came out there and killed it. It just means a lot to me.”

Camp’s numbers throughout the tournament were astonishing and demonstrative of her claim to be not only the best pitcher in the 2A class, but one of the tops across the state.

The righty used an effective riser, backdoor curve and change-up to baffle oppossing hitters, allowing one earned run on 11 hits and four walks in 24 innings pitched in the tournament. Camp faced 89 batters – 17 over the minimum – and threw 253 strikes out of 359 pitches (71%).

Arguably more impressive, Camp struck out 53 opposing batters in the tournament, which was 59.5% of the hitters she faced and brought her final total for what is sure to be a First Team all-state and possibly state player of the year season to 342 with a 22-3 win-loss record and a 0.47 earned-run average, blisters and all.

“Lilly has grown even from last season, she has grown into a complete player this season, both physically and mentally,” McDaniel said. “She showed so much focus and determination. She was on point with her pitches, executed her spins so precise, she had control in the biggest moments and stepped up and delilvered what her team needed in the biggest moments. … She played for her team.”

With the state title now complete, Aberdeen’s coaches and players realize they have cemented a legacy that will be remembered for decades to come, and they have been receiving praise from family and friends in the softball community from across the Twin Harbors, including a classy move by one of the most successful softball coaches in state history.

“(Montesano head coach) Pat Pace reached out to me and we chatted a few minutes throught text when I took a driving break,” McDaniel said. “He congratulaged me and the staff and the team. He’s always been supportive of us since I’ve taken over and has always extended everything toward me.”

“I just wanted to let him know I think what he just did was a great accomplishment for Aberdeen High School and the community,” Pace said. “I knew it was a long time and what they just did was a great accomplishment for their community.”

Now, the team that faced relative obscurity just a week ago have the program’s first state title and will be forever enshrined in the trophy case likely the Hall of Fame wall at Aberdeen High School.

“It’s just amazing. It feels unreal still and I’m glad I got to do it for this program and my school and my family,” Camp said. “It feels good to have that title going out as a senior. I’m glad that’s how I ended my final season as an Aberdeen Bobcat. I’m glad that trophy will be in our school, representing us.”

“We have never felt more proud of each other, our coaches, the organization. It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come,” Hendrickson said. “It shows that we are the best. We had the best coaches, the best team, the best staff.”

“We worked hard for this moment for a long time now and it was our time to do it. We just had to show what we had,” Vessey said. “It means we made history. It’s just exciting know that we are the ones that did it and I’m glad that we are.”

”It means everything,” said Lecomte, a devout Christian who gave glory to the Lord. “God helped me and before every single game I would always pray with our whole team and he definitely led the way for me. I don’t think I could’ve done anything without my teammates or him.”

At the conclusion of the championship game, Aberdeen catcher Alyssa Yakovich gave the game ball over to the coaching staff of McDaniel, Siano and assistant coach Kyle Scott. The ball is typically presented to a player postgame, but not this time, not for this ball.

”We chatted about what we were going to do with the ball and we told the girls that ball is going to go right next to the trophy and it’s for them. Whenever they graduate and come back to the high school, that ball with be there forever,” he said. “We always talked about their legacies and what they leave behind, that’s their legacy and that’s all theirs.”

For this group of Bobcats faced obscurity in the eye, and made history.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen outfielders (from left) Audree Gaddis, Rylee Hendrickson and Scotlyn Lecomte pose for a photo after winning the 2A State Championship on May 24 in Selah.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen shortstop Zoe Vessey connects with a pitch during a 2-1 win over Port Angeles in the 2A State Championship game on Saturday, May 24 at Carlon Park in Selah.