For some, it was a chance to wear their high-school uniform one last time before continuing their careers at the next level.

For other, it was an opportunity to have one final road trip with their teammates.

But for all of those that played in the Senior Softball Showcase at Centralia College on Thursday, the game represented what its organizers had hoped for after a pressure-packed prep season: It was fun.

“It was stress free. What I told them at the beginning was, ‘This is unlike any other game you are going to play in. Last week (at the state tournament) was the tough part. Come here and have some fun,’” said event co-organizer and former Pe Ell-Willapa Valley head coach Ken Olson. “The kids were fantastic as far as being cooperative and they were having fun in the dugout. They were all talking back and forth, which is what you want out of this. I’ll do this again. This was fun.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Elma’s Mia Monroe swings at a pitch during the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

The game featured two teams of seniors from across schools in the uber-competitive District 4, which has dominated the 2A, 1A and 2B-class state tournaments for decades now.

This season was no different, with 2A State champions Aberdeen, 1A State champs Montesano and 2B state title-winners Adna all represented at the meet, as well as state-trophy winners Tumwater, Elma, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley and Rochester.

The event was created with the help of Centralia College and was meant to showcase senior softball standouts from 2A, 1A and 2B schools in Grays Harbor, Lewis and Thurston counties.

No official scorebook was kept, players were allowed to play multiple positions, and the game was scheduled for a full nine innings to allow every one of the 36 players several opportunities in the field and at the plate.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Raymond-South Bend’s Berklee Morley fields a grounder during the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

As for the game itself, The home team ‘Outlaws’ jumped out to an early lead when star Rochester senior Layna Demers drove a pitch from Aberdeen standout Lilly Camp over the fence in center for a two-run home run.

The Outlaws added an unearned run on an error in the fourth followed by three runs on a hit, an error and three walks against Black Hills pitcher Ella Goheen.

Tumwater great Ella Ferguson gave the Outlaws a 7-0 lead with an RBI single off Camp in the bottom of the seventh.

Ferguson, Demers and Centralia pitcher Hollynn Wakefield combined to hold the ‘Mavericks’ to just two hits – a first-inning single from W.F. West’s Avalon Myers and a single in the ninth by Rochester’s Arissa LeBaron – while striking out 10 with three walks as a staff.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Ali Parkin (left) and Aberdeen’s Lilly Camp head back to the dugout during the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

Several Twin Harbors seniors competed in the game.

Camp, outfielder Scotlyn Lecomte and infielders Abby Mainio and Zoe Vessey represented Aberdeen, with Vessey collecting a base hit off Camp to lead off the bottom of the third in a teammate-versus-teammate situation that only happens in a game such as this.

“I thought it was great we were able to get all the girls out for the last time, be on conjoined teams and play one last time together,” Camp said. “It meant a lot to me, knowing that we were able to do this. It was fun.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Abby Mainio (left) and Zoe Vessey (1) pose for a photo with Elma’s Mia Monroe after the conclusion of the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

Montesano was represented by it’s all-star in catcher Ali Parkin, who caught Camp in what was a Harbor MVP-to-MVP battery for the Mavericks.

Parkin, who exudes energy and excitement whenever she is on the field, took the opportunity to play multiple positions, including second and first base, making her a utility player for the first and last time in a Bulldogs uniform.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Rochester’s Arrissa LeBaron (left), Layna Demers (32) and Cheyenne Justice (26) pose for a photo with Montesano’s Ali Parkin (3) and Elma’s Mia Monroe at the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

“It was so much fun,” said Parkin, who also got to play with two of her future teammates at Lower Columbia College in Adna’s Kendall Humphrey and Danica Hallom. “It was nice to put on my high-school jersey one last time and to make a bond with some other girls. … I got to meet (Humphrey and Hallom) again and that was just so cool. It was a lot of fun. They definitely have kind of the same personality as me, so that’s good.”

“It was really fun. I really liked being able to play with a whole bunch of different seniors and it was against, and with, a whole bunch of teams and players I haven’t even got to play against in-season, so it was cool to meet them,” standout Elma outfielder Mia Monroe said. “It was great.”

Monroe’s teammate Jasmyne Kish also competed at the game, making a nice catch on a tricky foul ball off first to make her impact known.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam’s Jordan Billie takes a lead off second during the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College. RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam’s Jordan Billie takes a lead off second during the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

A pair of Hoquiam seniors in Nadine Stewart and Jordan Billie played on Thursday as well, with right-fielder Stewart ranging back to make a leaping, one-handed snag of a line drive by Tumwater’s Zoe Fields in the top of the third inning, one of the defensive highlights of the game.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley, the team Olson guided to two 2B State championships during his coaching tenure, were represented by standouts Addison Merkel and Brookelynn King while 2B district-champion Raymond-South Bend players Berklee Morley and Tressa McMullen repped the Ravens.

“It was an honor,” Morley said. “There’s a lot of talent out here, a lot of DI and college commits, so it’s really fun going against them. … I had so much fun.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Raymond-South Bend’s Tressa McMullen connects with a pitch during the Senior Showcase softball game on Thursday at Centralia College.

“It was really amazing,” said McMullen, who gave some insight on the game’s special meaning to her. “It was pretty sentimental for me, knowing this time was going to be the last time I was going to put on my jersey and it was going to be my last at-bat for my whole softball career. To see that come to an end was really sad, but to be out here on the field with these amazing, talented softball players and connect with one another, it was so fun that this got to be my last time.”

For the Ravens duo, making one last road trip was well worth it.

“I knew I had one last game with Tressa and I’m glad it was fun. It wasn’t a stressful game,” Morley said. “It was the end of an era for us.”

“It was really great because me and Berklee got to be together one last time,” McMullen said. “Even the trip up here and getting to hang out and how we are going to go get Taco Bell after this, it was just so fun and I feel really at peace with how my softball career ended. It was a great way to go out.”

That sentiment is exactly why this game was created for what has become the hot-bed for softball talent in the state.

“Having fun and getting to play one last time is what I wanted for all of them, and they did that,” Olson said. “So it was a good night.”

Mavericks 000 000 000 – 0 2 4

Outlaws 200 130 100 – 7 7 2

WP: Ferguson. LP: Camp.

Leading hitters: Mavericks – Myers (H); Lebaron (H); Parkin (BB).

Outlaws – Pancake (2H); Demers (HR, R, 2RBI); Ferguson (H, RBI); Humphrey (H, RBI); Vessey (H); Mainio (2BB). Mavericks – Myers (H); LeBaron (H); Parkin (BB); Marcy (BB); Fields (BB).