2A Softball: Whalen’s Walk-Off Wins District Championship

The last time W.F. West didn’t win a district softball championship, the bulk of its roster was in grade school.

None of the wins in that stretch, though, were quite as entertaining as Friday’s District 4 2A tournament title game.

And, coincidentally, none of them featured slugging second baseman Ashlyn Whalen.

Whalen lined a double into right field that caromed off the bottom of the fence, giving Paetynn Lopez more than enough time to score from first base and giving the Bearcats’ a 4-3 walk-off win over Ridgefield at Fort Borst Park.

Considering the Bearcats had followed a similar script in a 10-inning semifinal win Thursday night, it’s safe to say they were ready for a tense game.

“I guess we like to do this,” Whalen joked. “It’s hard on my body, but it’s fine. All of us just come out here and try our best, and that’s all everybody asks for.”

The clutch eighth-inning hit capped a dramatic contest that featured a pair of impressive pitching performances, two momentum-shifting home runs, a seventh-inning Ridgefield rally and, ultimately, W.F. West’s sixth-straight district championship.

The game was also a rematch of last year’s title game, which W.F. West won 4-0. The Spudders sent the same pitcher — Kaia Olson — to the circle on Friday, and the junior righthander struck out 13 with two walks and six hits.

“She’s great. The pitch-calling that they’re doing, and what she’s throwing — I think her and Woodland (pitcher Olivia Grey) are the best we’ve seen this season,” Bearcat coach Caty Lieseke said, “and it’s good to see us come out and produce some runs against that.”

The Bearcats, meanwhile, sent senior Ashlee Vadala to the rubber, a day after she pitched 10 innings in the semifinals against Woodland. Vadala had texted Lieseke Friday morning asking about her role in the championship game.

“I said, as long as your body says yes,” Lieseke said. “She said, ‘I’ve been waiting years for this,’ and that was her only answer.”

Vadala delivered, striking out six without a walk and allowing seven hits while facing just one over the minimum through five innings. She got out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the sixth without surrendering a run, working with just a one-run cushion — thanks to a solo homer from Ava Fugate in the second frame.

W.F. West got it’s offense going in the bottom of the sixth. Lopez drew a walk and scored on a hard triple to right field from Whalen, who then scored on a ground ball from Vadala to put the Bearcats up 3-0.

Ridgefield, however, wasn’t finished. Lily Mittman led off the seventh from a single and Kekai Schultz hit a two-run homer to right field. Three batters later Karli Oliver tied things up with an RBI double to right field.

Kaia Oliver set down the Bearcats in order, with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to second, in the seventh to force extra innings, and Vadala got three quick outs in the top of the eighth.

Lopez led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a walk, putting Whalen — who was focused on simplifying her swing after a pair of early strikeouts — at the dish.

“I was trying too hard and I just needed to be simple,” she said. “Get good contact with the ball, and I knew something good would happen.”

Lieseke, meanwhile, liked her team’s odds at that juncture.

“I’m standing down at third base, and I’m thinking, there’s no kid on this team I don’t trust, not even just Ashlyn — there’s no kid on this team that can’t make it happen,” she said. “What a cool place to be down there, coaching third, and saying, ‘Cool. We got our 3-hitter up.’”

Whalen took the second pitch she saw to right field, and the game was over.

W.F. West (20-3) heads to Selah next week for the State 2A Softball Tournament, which starts Friday morning at Carlon Park. Ridgefield (18-3) and Woodland (21-2), which beat Rochester 10-0 to finish third, will also be making the trip, and Lieseke said facing the two Greater St. Helens 2A League co-champions was good preparation for next week.

“We couldn’t ask for a better set of opponents,” she said. “I think District 4 is sending a quality set of teams down to Selah.”

Notes: Lopez finished the game 2 for 2 with a pair of walks and two runs, while Whalen was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and Fugate was 2 for 3. … W.F. West will head to Selah for its 15th consecutive state tournament appearance. The Bearcats are the defending State 2A champions and have won two of the last three, and three of the last six, state titles.