Local Softball Teams Strut Their Stuff at UW Festival

(photo courtesy of gohuskies.com)


This past weekend eight softball teams from around the state were invited to play at the University of Washington Festival in Seattle.

In short, the teams selected were good. And that says a lot for softball in Lewis County.

Centralia and W.F. West (Evergreen 2A Conference), and Adna (Central 2B League) were three of the selections.

The trio of local squads performed well. In fact, they almost pulled off a trifecta.

Centralia pitcher Ramona Lorton threw five near-perfect innings to lead the Tigers to a 12-0 win over Pullman, Lauryn Ticknor pitched the Bearcats past Lake Stevens, 9-2, and Adna narrowly lost to Cedar Park Christian, 7-6.

Goes to show you the quality of softball being played in our own backyard, not to mention the three teams displayed sportsmanship over the weekend, too, cheering each other on.

“There was a great atmosphere, it was a great field, and even for the coaches it was a neat experience,” Adna coach Mike Raschke said. “Centralia supported us and sat in the stands — even some of the parents. And we stayed until the fourth inning of the Chehalis game and rooted them on. Chehalis rooted Centralia on, too. It was nice to have three local teams pulling for each other.”

The first game of the UW Festival started at 10 a.m., and the last one didn’t finish until evening, so there was plenty of time to be spent. Raschke said his players used it to walk over to the University’s football field, where a semipro game was being played.

Centralia coach Ken Olson may have summed up the weekend the best when he said this:

“It was a great day at Husky Stadium.”