The 2B Pacific League softball standings are becoming clearer after the Ocosta Wildcats and Pe Ell-Willapa Valley Titans had key doubleheaders on Thursday.
SOFTBALL
Ocosta 2, Forks 1
Ryann Raffelson’s steal of home plate in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Ocosta Wildcats a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Forks in the first game of a doubleheader in Westport.
After allowing a lone run in the top of the fourth inning, it wouldn’t be until the bottom of the seventh that Ocosta got on the scoreboard, and the Wildcats did so in dramatic fashion. Ocosta’s Lillyan Barnum led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a single by Raffelson, putting the tying and winning runs on base with no outs.
With Miki Ness at the plate, both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Barnum scored a few pitches later on another wild pitch by Spartans pitcher Chloe Leverington.
Leverington got Ness to strike out with the Raffelson representing the winning run on third base.
Ocosta’s Trinity White then popped out to first base, putting the Wildcats on the verge of letting a golden opportunity to pick up a key league victory slip through their grasp.
Raffelson wasn’t about to let that happen.
With Zaida Morales at bat and an 0-1 count, Raffelson scored on a steal of home to give Ocosta the 2-1 walk-off win.
The victory preserved a fantastic pitching performance by Ocosta’s Annika Hollingsworth, who went the full seven innings, allowing an earned run on four hits with 11 strikeouts and two walks.
Leverington took the loss, fanning 16 with two walks and two earned runs on two hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Raffelson (1-2, R) and Ronni Graham (1-3) had Ocosta’s only two hits in the game, both singles.
Forks 000 100 0 — 1 4 1
Ocosta 000 000 2 — 2 2 2
Forks 5, Ocosta 4
After Ocosta earned an exciting walk-off win in the first game of a doubleheader, Forks returned the favor in the night cap.
The Spartans scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to had Ocosta its first loss of the season 5-4 in the second game of a doubleheader on Thursday in Westport.
Ocosta (9-1 overall, 7-1 2B Pacific) trailed 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning but tied the game when Ronni Graham scored on an RBI single by Annika Hollingsworth.
Two batters later, the Wildcats took a 3-2 lead when Hollingsworth scored on a wild pitch.
Forks (6-3, 6-2) loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with no outs against Graham. Jessie Gilbert relieved Graham and struck out the next two batters to put the Wildcats one out away from a twin bill sweep, but Forks was able to tie the game on a steal of home and send the game into extra innings.
In the top of the eighth, with a runner placed on second base to start the inning, Ocosta’s Noel Cuzdy scored on an error with one out to give Ocosta a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Forks scored its placed runner home on a leadoff single off Ocosta reliever Hollingsworth to tie the game at 4-all and won the game when Keira Johnson beat the throw home from Ocosta third baseman Miki Ness on a fielder’s choice ground ball with no outs.
Graham (1-3, R), Hollingsworth (1-3, R, RBI) and Ryann Raffelson (1-3, 3B, RBI) had a hit apiece for Ocosta.
Leverington picked up the win for forks, allowing three earned runs and three hits while striking out 14 with one walk in a complete-game performance.
Ocosta 000 102 01 — 4 3 4
Forks 100 100 12 — 5 4 2
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 16, Raymond 5
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley’s prominent offense continued its season-long hot streak as the Titans defeated Raymond 16-5 in the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday in Raymond.
Olivia Matlock and Raegan Portmann each belted three-run home runs — with Portmann’s giving the Titans a 10-run rule walk-off win in the sixth inning — as PWV (7-0 overall, 6-0 2B Pacific) had six players with two or more hits in the game.
After Raymond (3-5 overall, 2B Pacific) took the early lead with two runs in the top of the first inning, PWV responded with eight runs in the bottom half of the inning .
Trailing 9-2 heading to the top of the fifth inning, Raymond got back in the game when freshman shortstop Kyndal Koski drilled a three-run home run of her own to cut the Titans lead to 9-5.
But PWV responded when Matlock hit her three-run dinger in the bottom of the fifth and Portmann capped a four-run sixth with a three-run walk-off homer.
Matlock earned the win in the circle for PWV, allowing five runs on four hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks. She went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI.
The Titans’ Merissa Frasier (2-4, RBI), Ava Bush (2-4, 2B), Sadie Howard (2-4, 2B, 2RBI) and Payton Peterson (2-4, RBi) each had multi-hit games.
Portmann finished the game going 1-for-3 with the three-run home run and four runs scored.
PWV head coach Ken Olson talked to his team about the importance of not underestimating an emerging Seagulls team.
“They came to hit and were swinging the bats,” he said. “We talked about how we can’t overlook this team. They are an up-and-coming program.”
Olson noted the play of Raymond’s Koski, whom impressed him with what he estimated was nine or 10 putouts from her shortstop position.
“We just pounded her at shortstop. … We were hitting shots at her and she just had a great day. She stepped up her game and is worthy of mention,” he said, adding that Raymond put up a challenge to his team that has 10-runned the majority of its games before the sixth inning this season. “It’s nice to see us have to play a little defense and work at it.”
Raymond 200 030 — 5 4 4
PWV 800 134 — 16 15 4
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 17, Raymond 0
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley wasted no time in dispatching of the Seagulls in the nightcap, needing just three innings to defeat Raymond 17-0 in Game 2 of a doubleheader on Thursday in Raymond.
The PWV offense — which entered Thursday’s twin bill hitting .596 as a team with 35 extra-base hits in five games — hammered 18 hits in scoring four runs in the top of the first, eight in the second and five in the third.
Raegan Portmann was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI while Olivia Matlock — who leads PWV with a staggering .842 batting average — went 2-for-3 and drilled a three-run home run in the second inning, her second three-run bomb of the doubleheader.
Merissa Frasier (2-3, RBI), Annika Mason (3-4, 2 2B, 2RBI), Grace Huber (2-2, 2 SB) and Payton Peterson (2-3, 3R-HR, 2B, 4RBI) all had multi-hit games for PWV, with Peterson hitting her first varsity home run — a three run blast in the third inning — in the game.
Matlock pitched a hitless first two innings with three strikeouts and gave way to freshman hurler Lauren Emery, who allowed one hit in throwing a scoreless third inning.
Raymond’s Cat Swogger kept the Seagulls from being no-hit with a single in the bottom of the third inning.
PWV 485 — 17 18 1
Raymond 000 — 0 1 0
Ilwaco 7, South Bend 4
South Bend lost the opening game of a doubleheader 7-4 to Ilwaco on Thursday in South Bend.
The Indians (0-8, 0-6) fell behind 5-0 after two innings and despite a three-run third — highlighted by Chloe Sawyer’s two-run, inside-the-park home runs — couldn’t get any closer than two runs en route to the loss.
Berklee Morley (1-3, R), Raydynn Morley (1-4, 2B), Makaylee Kuiker (1-3, 2B, R) and Sophia Markwell (1-3) also had base hits for South Bend.
Sawyer took the loss, allowing one earned run on four hits with one strikeout and five walks in seven innings pitched.
Ilwaco 410 000 2 — 7 4 1
South Bend 003 000 1 — 4 6 4
Ilwaco 8, South Bend 1
South Bend fell behind by five runs after three innings and never recovered in an 8-1 loss to Ilwaco in the night cap of a doubleheader on Thursday in Ilwaco.
Ilwaco (4-6, overall, 2B Pacific) scored four runs in the bottom of the second and a run in the third.
The Fishermen held South Bend scoreless until the Indians managed a run in the top of the seventh after Chloe Sawyer — who was aboard with a leadoff double — scored on a passed ball.
Sawyer had all three Indians hits in the game, going 3-3 with a double and a run scored.
South Bend 000 000 1 — 1 3 0
Ilwaco 041 003 x — 8 5 0
