Relentless rain transformed Tacoma’s South End Recreation Area into a virtual land of a thousand quagmires late last week.
But much to the delight of fastpitch players, coaches and fans, the efficient SERA grounds crew – combined with short-lived sprinkles on Saturday – made the grounds playable Saturday. In the end, organizers packed two days worth of the state fastpitch tournament into a one-day affair.
By the time Sedro Woolley dethroned last year’s 3A state champs Bainbridge in five innings to take all the marbles, the bewitching hour of midnight was rapidly approaching.
Bonney Lake, a squad cursed with traumatizing troubles and debilitating injuries during this challenging season, ended its campaign with an overall mark of 21-7 and won two of three games at the 3A state tourney.
This wasn’t bad, according to veteran skipper Andrew Sage. The Panther boss believes most fastpitch pundits assumed his 2010 club wouldn’t return to post-season prominence.
“This group of girls somehow kept it together as a team all year long as it seemed like a different one would step up in every game,” he said. “We had a couple of freshmen come up from the junior varsity ranks in Kali Patterson and Kayla Wells to really spark us at mid-season, when it seemed like we were struggling after losing Courtney Franz to a season-ending injury.”
After Franz, whose pitching helped the Panthers rattle off a string of wins, succumbed to her injury, power hitter Sammy Ebner suffered a knee injury that slowed her down considerably and eventually she was directed to stop playing.
Under the patient tutelage of Sage, the Panther girls began their lengthy state session by trimming Bellevue 5-4, then sandwiched in an unsettling 16-7 setback at the hands of a tough West Valley-Yakima crew, before wrapping up its 2010 state appearance against Camas High by wadding up the Papermakers and tossing them into the circular file with a 9-5 victory.
The Panthers, who finished the abbreviated softball marathon with co-third place honors, along with half a dozen other teams, started out by toppling a heavily favored Bellevue team.
Both Bellevue and Bonney Lake committing three errors, but the Panthers outhit the Wolverines 8-5 and recorded three runs in the bottom of the fifth frame to jump ahead 5-3.
Taylor Watkins drove Bellevue nuts as she not only went 2-for-3 from the plate but also used her speed to steal three bases.
In the 4 p.m. tilt against the West Valley Rams, Bonney Lake sprinted to a 6-3 lead, then watched as West Valley racked up 23 hits to run away with its second triumph on the day; the Rams had beaten Enumclaw 2-0 earlier in the proceedings.
Patterson and Wells made their presence known at the dish as Patterson went 4-for-4 and Wells 2-for-4. Senior catcher Brittany Meyers and junior outfielder Chloe Beal contributed one double apiece.
In the third trial of a long day, sophomore pitcher Rendi Johnson, who Sage referred to as a lifesaver in a sea of adversity this season, regained her confidence and kept her pitches down as the Panthers prevailed over Camas.
The Papermakers’ pitching simply couldn’t contain the vaunted Watkins, who seemed like the proverbial locomotive picking up speed as it raced along. Watkins, a transfer from Arizona who has already committed to play for Ohio State University after her senior stint, went 9-for-13 from the dish in the three state tourney outings and was intentionally walked on a regular basis. Watkins managed a 2-for-2 evening against Camas with a pair of doubles and two RBI.
