The highly touted rapture that was supposed to have gone down Saturday took on an entirely different meaning for the Sumner High fastpitch squad that entered the weekend’s West Central District tournament as somewhat of a Cinderella.

A mostly inexperienced Spartan crew, which entered the 2A district event as the seventh seed to go along with a 10-6 overall record, started off the true second season Friday afternoon with a bewildering 26-4 loss at the hands of North Mason.

So instead of moving on to play Franklin Pierce that same day on the winner’s side of the bracket, the rattled Spartans instead moved to the losers’ side of the configuration and were slated to take on Kingston the next afternoon.

With the offensive help of Sumner’s Sara Heuett, Angie Sanchez and Amanda Haines, the Spartans were able to push their game with Kingston into bonus panels. In this intense, extra-inning, loser-go-home battle, a clutch pinch hit, RBI single from junior Megan Anderson gave SHS a 5-4 victory.

SHS lived to play another game, that topsy-turvy encounter coming against Olympic High a couple of hours later in the overcast afternoon.

Behind 4-2 in the top of the sixth stanza, Sumner came surging back to tabulate seven runs and go ahead 9-4 with what seemed to be an insurmountable lead over the Trojans of Olympic. The Cinderella squad seemed to be on the threshold of moving on to the state tournament, had the rapture not reared its ugly head.

The ensuing seventh inning may not have been the end of the world, but it was close, as Sumner’s girls experienced extreme heartbreak, blowing a 9-4 advantage with two out in the bottom of the seventh.

The Sumner High fastpitch faithful looked on in horror as the Spartans coughed up a half dozen runs to drop a 10-9 stunner.

Coach Kristen Crawley suggested it was a long bus ride home for her predominantly freshman and sophomore contingent.

“They were in shock,” she said. “The astounding thing about though was that there really wasn’t a lot that we could have done much differently, because Olympic just came alive with their bats and we were basically powerless to do anything about it.”

Sumner’s Dani Babcock had been awarded first team All-South Puget Sound League 2A accolades only hours before the tournament, along with sophomore pitcher Allie Sims, junior first baseman Heuett and athletic senior outfielder Sanchez.