Softball Districts Roundup: Montesano, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley advance to championship games

CENTRALIA – The Montesano Bulldogs are heading back to familiar territory.

Samantha Stanfield struck out 15 and pitched a no-hitter to lead Monte to a 10-0 victory over Hoquiam in the semifinal round of the 1A District Softball Tournament at Borst Park on Wednesday. The win gave Monte a spot in the district championship game and secured a slot in next week’s state tournament for the 21st-consecutive season.

Stanfield’s dominance was backed up by the Bulldogs bats, which gave her a four-run cushion in the first inning.

Montesano head coach Pat Pace said he wasn’t surprised to see his team come out with energy against Hoquiam.

“They’ve had a really tough schedule and they took everything that they learned throughout the season,” he said. “It’s a rivalry game so it’s easy to get pumped up for. Hoquiam is a good team and we just wanted to come out and win that trip to state.”

Part of the offensive attack that put the Bulldogs back in the state tournament came from Peyton Poler. Poler hit a solo home run in fourth inning and went 2-for-2 with a walk.

Poler said the team’s positive attitude in the dugout helped them get this far and she expects it to give them the edge in the district title game.

“We need to do the same thing we did on Wednesday and keep our dugout up and make sure we’re celebrating every little thing and the offense and defense will come with it,” she said.

Hoquiam had been impressive at the plate earlier in the day with a 19-2 win over White Salmon in the first round of the tournament.

In that game, the Grizzlies got hits from nearly the entire starting lineup and had five extra-base hits, including a homer from Abbi Spradlin in the first inning.

Hoquiam will try to bounce back and keep its tournament hopes alive with a game against Forks.

Forks loss to Castle Rock in its first-round game.

Castle Rock will play Monte for the district title at 4 p.m. Saturday at Borst Park in Centralia.

Hoquiam 000 000 – 0 0 1

Monte 322 002 – 10 11 0

WP — Stanfield (6 IP, 0 H, 15 K, 0 BB); LP — Hyde (3 BB, 2 K)

Lead Hitters: M —Poler (2-3, HR, 2B), Parkin (2 H, 2 R)

2B District Softball

Titans rally downs Wildcats

The Pe Ell-Willapa Valley Titans fell behind early but rallied to defeat Ocosta 15-5 in a 2B District semifinal matchup on Wednesday at Borst Park.

The win propels Titans into the state tournament and puts them in the district title game against Napavine at 6 p.m. Saturday in Centralia.

Ocosta, who hit six home runs in an inning to comeback against Toutle Lake in its first-round matchup, got off to a fast start in the opening frame against PWV with a three-run home run from Kirsti Raffelson.

The Titans tied the game in the third and put the game out of reach with seven runs in the fourth inning. Sidney Pollard drove in two run with a double and was brought in by Brittney Patrick, who followed Pollard with a double.

PWV head coach Ken Olson said his team did well to avoid chasing pitches out of the strike zone.

“We had a great approach at the plate,” he said. “We weren’t going to chase anything up in the zone and it worked out.”

The Titans’ offense got some help as Ocosta’s defense committed four errors in the ballgame.

Ocosta head coach Jason Barnum said his team has to play better defensively against high-caliber teams.

“They’ve done what they’re supposed to do to get where they’re at and we have to make routine plays,” he said. “When you give state-championship teams multiple outs in an inning instead of just three, you’re going to have a problem beating them.”

Ocosta will try to fight its way back into state tournament contention with a game against Onalaska at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Borst Park in Centralia.

PWV 031 74 – 15 10 1

Ocosta 301 10 – 5 6 3

WP — Kam. Adkins (2K, 3 ER); LP — E. Snider (10 ER, BB)

Leading Hitters: PWV – Kam. Adkins (2R, RBI), Ritzman (3-4, 3 RBI, 2B) O – K. Raffelson (HR, 3 RBI), E. Snider (3-3)

Elma offense stalls against Castle Rock

The Elma Eagles split a pair of district tournament games and will now have to fight it’s way out of the consolation bracket in its quest for a state-tournament berth.

Elma used three home runs to power its offense in a 15-5 opening-round victory over La Center. But the Eagles’ offensive onslaught didn’t carry over against Castle Rock as they fell 7-2.

Elma’s Destry Dineen went yard and Molly Johnston hit a pair of round-trippers in the win over La Center.

Elma coach Roger Elliot said his team had been working on hitting drills in practice and was disappointed the Eagles couldn’t put together two games of solid hitting, but liked what he saw from his pitching staff.

“Quin Mikel pitched well enough to win against Castle Rock we just didn’t get her runs,” he said. “There were two or three times we had runners on second and third and we just didn’t come through. We’ll get the next one.”

Mikel had kept things quiet until some errors and timely hits helped the Rockets put up a five spot in the top of the seventh inningh.

The Eagles will face White Salmon in an elimination game at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Borst Park in Centralia.

Raymond eliminated after two losses

Raymond couldn’t generate enough runs to stay afloat in its first ever trip to districts and was eliminated with losses to Adna and Onalsaka.

The Seagulls fell to Adna in the first game of the double-elimination tournament 11-1 and lost the second game to Onalaska 14-9.

Though they had a difficult time getting the offense going against the Adna Pirates, the Seagulls showed signs of life against Onalaska with an eight-run first inning to take the early lead.

Raymond’s rally featured back-to-back doubles from Izzy Silvernail and Hannah Miller to kick start the offense.

But the Seagulls only managed to score one more run the rest of the contest while Onalaksa chipped away at the lead to overtake Raymond in the fifth inning.

Raymond head coach Jason Koski was encouraged by what his program accomplished in its first year and said that an increased confidence helped the Seagulls generate offense in the elimination game.

“This game is driven by pitching and if you get a dominant pitcher it really makes it difficult on the other team when they don’t see that kind of pitching all the time,” he said. “Against Onalaska, we went into it with a better mental approach and we were more positive than we were in the Adna game.”

Softball Districts Roundup: Montesano, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley advance to championship games
Softball Districts Roundup: Montesano, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley advance to championship games
Softball Districts Roundup: Montesano, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley advance to championship games
Softball Districts Roundup: Montesano, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley advance to championship games