Bearcats Blast Out 25 Runs to Stay Alive in District Tournament

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After it couldn’t quite pull the upset on the tournament favorites to start its day, the W.F. West softball team found itself with its backs against the wall at the 2A District 4 tournament. In those situations, you go back to what’s worked for you.

W.F. West’s bats have worked for them, and they came through once again in a loser-out game against Woodland, to the tune of a 25-14 shellacking. 

“You’ve got to hand it to our girls,” WFW coach Kevin Zylstra said. “You lose and you go home, and they just kept battling and battling and battling, and scoring runs.”

The Bearcats, who erased a 5-0 hole on two home runs against Ridgefield in the quarterfinals before ultimately dropping that game 7-5, slugged two more bombs against the Beavers — both grand slams.

The first came off the bat of Rachel Gray in the top of the first inning, capping off a six-run rally that gave the Bearcats a huge lead before they ever had to go out into the field.

The second came from Avalon Myers — her second homer of the day — and came after the Bearcats had blown one huge lead and nearly blown a second, as part of an 11-run sixth inning that put things away for good. 

W.F. West’s lineup finished with 23 total hits. Myers went 4 for 6 with four RBIs and four runs scored at the heart of the lineup, while in the seventh slot, Gray went 4 for 6 with seven driven in. Staysha Fluetsch, Savannah Hawkins, and Chase White all had three-hit games, and Brielle Etter and Saige Brindle both had a pair of knocks.

On the flip side, though, the Beavers stayed right there with the Bearcats thanks to a big night at the plate of their own. Woodland struck for seven in the bottom of the fourth to tie things up at 8-8. After W.F. West retook the lead with six runs in the top of the fifth, Woodland replied with three more in the bottom half of the frame, and had the bases loaded before Fluetsch — WFW’s third pitcher of the game — came in to get the Bearcats out of it.

Then, the Bearcats sent 15 batters to the plate and didn’t stop scoring until they had a 14-run cushion, plenty to survive a three-run inning for Woodland in the bottom of the sixth — the game’s seventh crooked number — and emerge with the run-rule victory before the teams had to switch to a field with lights.

“Our pitchers hung in there, and we held them to no touchdowns in the fourth quarter,” Zylstra said with a laugh.

W.F. West’s day started with a much faster game, with the Bearcats trying to unseat GSHL champions Ridgefield. After three scoreless frames, the Spudders got to Ella Young for a run in the fourth and four in the fifth.

In the top of the sixth, though, W.F. West’s bats showed up, with a Brielle Etter single setting the table for a two-run Myers homer, and knocks by Fluetch and Hawkins putting runners on for Brindle, who tied the game up with a swing.

“Ridgefield’s a really good team… and we were right there with them,” Zylstra said.

The Spudders ultimately cashed in on two walks to open the bottom of the sixth, scoring one on a sacrifice fly and the other on a ground ball.

W.F. West will be back at Rec Park on Friday with its season back on the line, taking on Aberdeen in a winner-to-state game. The Bearcats took two of three from the Bobcats in the regular season.