Prep district softball: Rogers beats Union; Puyallup edges Bellarmine Prep

Winner-to-state

Rogers 6, Union 1: It was a decisive win for the Rams behind strong pitching by Kristen Johnson as she pitched a complete game leading her team to state.

“Obviously the most important part was that we were able to punch our ticket to state,” Rogers coach Jaclyn Ramsey said.

And did Rogers ever punch their ticket. The team came out strong scoring four runs in the second inning while Johnson’s pitching only allowed one run and five hits in seven innings.

“Kristen threw a great game,” Ramsey said. “She was just doing a great job keeping Union hitters off balance.”

The sole run that Union got came in the sixth inning but that was too little too late as the Rams now look to continue with their strong all around play moving on to state.

Puyallup 1, Bellarmine Prep 0: It only took one run to decide this game as the Vikings got all they needed to win out.

“We’ll take the win, all you gotta do is score one more than the other team,” Puyallup coach Tony Batinovich said. “You gotta play these close games tight like that once in awhile, that’s what softball is all about.”

Puyallup scored the sole run in the bottom of the fifth in a play that started with the plan to have a player steal that payed off when the batter made contact.

“We had two outs in the bottom of the fifth and had a runner on first,” Batinovich said. “We had our lead off batter Natalie Joyner who is going to Northern Colorado as a D1 signee.”

Batinovich made the call to have the runner try to steal since even if they got thrown out, they would have Joyner be the lead off hitter in the next inning anyway.

“The person we have on first is pretty so I’m just gonna have her steal,” Batinovich said. “Natalie crushed a ball to the fence and she just came all the way in.”

The big hit marks a milestone for the team whose seniors have had an impressive four years.

“This senior group I got here, this is their third trip to state in the last four years,” Batinovich said. “We won the state title when they were freshmen, didn’t go back as sophomore, and lost in the semis last year.”

The Vikings’ seniors will now have one last chance to take home a state title as they move on state with the win.

Tahoma 9, Enumclaw 8: It wasn’t pretty but the Bears managed to get the narrow win despite some struggles as a team.

“Defensively and pitching we struggled a little bit today,” Tahoma coach Christina Millan said. “We were just able to score runs to make up for it.”

It was certainly a back and forth battle with both teams taking the lead from each as they exchanged flurries of runs.

Tahoma scored three in the first and then Enumclaw answered back with four of their own right way. Tahoma then took the league back scoring two in the second and one in the third only to see Enumclaw take the lead back scoring three in the bottom of the third.

“The girls did a great job battling at the plate, getting runners on every opportunity we could,” Millan said.

That paid off as the Bears got two runs in the fourth to get the lead that they would keep for the rest of the game.

Winner third, loser fourth

Kelso 3, Stadium 2: The Highlanders were able to get past the Tigers in an intense matchup.

Gig Harbor 4, Prairie 1: The Tides clinched a berth into the state tournament with a total team win over the Falcons.

The Tides got a chance to show that they are a complete team after their ace, Jordan Adams, went down with a back injury on Friday. Adelaide Werner was in the circle, going seven innings, allowing six hits and three walks. She struck out seven hitters. Werner was able to rely on solid defense from her teammates.

“These three wins were amazing for our team,” Gig Harbor coach Kara Dressel said. “Our defense was impeccable. We know that we aren't just one person, we are excited to go into state as a full team.”

The Tides enter the state playoffs as a five seed.

District championship

Port Angeles 13, White River 2: White River started strong but couldn’t keep that play going after Port Angeles began a strong scoring run.

We played them earlier in the year,” White River coach Brandon Walker said. “We knew this was a really good team.”

The pressure was on for the team and they rose to the occasion, even leading early.

“After the second inning we were up one nothing after two innings,” Walker said. “We were playing well early in the game then they hit a grand slam in the fourth inning. That was the big difference.”

It was that grand slam that helped give Port Angeles the win and the District championship as they soundly outscored White River after they gave up a narrow initial lead.

Winner third, loser fourth

Orting 9, Eatonville 3: The Cardinals were dominant in their win over Eatonville in a matchup that was very familiar for the two teams as they had seen each other many times before.

“We had played Eatonville two times in league,” Orting coach Tyler Polly said. “They were close one run games so we knew we had our work cut out for us.”

This wasn’t the only thing weighing on the Orting team’s collective mind as they were coming off a rough earlier loss that they had to bounce back from.

“We played Port Angeles earlier and got beat pretty good,” Polly said. “The Eatonville game was a good game for us.”

That’s an understatement as the Cardinals won by a solid six runs and only gave up three runs as they took third win the win.

Winner fifth, loser sixth

Sequim 15, Fife 2: Fife was blown out and ended up taking sixth while Sequim took a decisive sixth place.

This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 10:49 PM with the headline "Prep district softball: Rogers beats Union; Puyallup edges Bellarmine Prep."