Yelm wins Narrows League tourney title

Maybe it wasn’t for the No. 1 seed, but Yelm High School still won a fastpitch tournament title Friday.

Stringing together hit after hit in a big fourth inning, the Tornados walloped Capital, 11-0, in the finals of the Narrows League 3A tournament at South End Recreation Area Complex in Tacoma.

The game was stopped after the fifth inning because of a 10-run mercy rule.

The win earned Yelm (15-3) the No. 2 seed to next week’s West Central District championships. The Cougars are the No. 3 seed. Regular-season champion Wilson was an automatic top seed, with a bye from the tournament.

All 11 Yelm runs came in the fourth inning – on six hits, and also aided by four Capital errors.

The big blow came on Breann Robertson’s three-run double off Capital’s Rachel Erickson to right field to give Yelm a 7-0 lead.

That gave Tornados ace Megan Mendonca all the run support she needed to notch her sixth win. Mendonca gave up just two hits, and struck out four batters.

“That big inning just tells me if I walk somebody, it is OK because I have so many insurance runs,” Mendonca said.

Yelm coach Lindsay Walton, in her seventh season, was pleased to see her batters warm up.

“Having an offensive game where everyone was seeing the ball well is beneficial,” Walton said. “To come out to this game and dominate ... gives us a confidence boost going into districts.”

South Kitsap 5, Olympia 4: Despite outhitting the Wolves, 13-9, the Bears’ loss in the 4A Narrows League fastpitch tournament means Olympia will be the No. 4 seed into next week’s West Central/Southwest bi-district tournament.

Gabby Braniff (2-for-3, double, triple), Nikki Schroeder (2-for-4), Marie Beagle (3-for-3) and Megan Goodman (2-for-3) accounted for nine of the Bears’ 13 hits.

BASEBALL

Ridgefield 4, Tenino 3 (eight innings): The Beavers, who were the 1A state runner-up last season, were knocked out of the 1A District IV tournament by the Spudders in extra innings. Tenino took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth, but Ridgefield scored two in the bottom of the eighth with the winning run coming on a hit batsman.

GIRLS TENNIS

2A EvCo subdistrict: Black Hills senior Julie Hansen will defend her 2A Evergreen Conference sub-district singles title today in the final day of the tournament at Longview’s Mint Valley Racquet Club.

Hansen won both her matches Friday, defeating Centralia’s Dominika Fackovcova, 7-5, 6-3 in the second round, then North Thurston’s Sidney Smith, 6-1, 6-3, in the semifinals to reach the championship match. She’ll face Centralia’s Anna Scheibner, who defeated Tumwater’s Olivia Koelsch in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-2.

In doubles, Tumwater’s No. 1 doubles team of McKenzie Click and Emily Barclift will play for the championship against W.F. West’s Reile Slattery and Aleassa Wren. Click and Barclift won their two matches Friday in straight sets, including topping Centralia’s Megan Kern and McKailey Fast, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals.

Tumwater’s No. 3 doubles team – sisters Madelyn and Jocelyn Hougan – had two upsets wins over the No. 1 teams from Black Hills’ and Aberdeen before falling to Slattery and Wren of W.F. West in the semifinals. The Hougans will face Black Hills’ No. 2 team of Devyn Miller and Julie Nguyen in the consolation semifinals. The top five singles players and doubles teams advance to next weekend’s 2A District IV tournament.