When W.F. West sophomore Avery Osborn steps to the plate, her approach is simple.
“I just am looking for a ball to hit that’s good enough to get my team ahead and get on base,” Osborn said.
Osborn did just that and then some on Friday, blasting her first two home runs of the season to lead W.F. West to a 7-0 victory over Centralia in the second Swamp Cup matchup of the season.
“I was excited,” Osborn said. “But I was just happier that I was doing my job and helping my team get the dub.”
Osborn’s first home run came in the top of the third, when W.F. West already led 1-0 thanks to an RBI single from Karly Rasmussen in the second.
Osborn connected on the first pitch of her at-bat for a two-run shot, and Allie Smitherman followed with her first homer of the year on a 2-2 pitch in the next at-bat to make it 4-0.
“It was awesome,” Osborn said of the back-to-back jacks. “I was so excited for her too.”
Kenley Fragner made it 5-0 with an RBI knock of her own in the fifth, and in the sixth, Osborn cleared the wall in left again. As she approached home plate, her teammates welcomed her by holding up two fingers before unleashing a barrage of celebratory hits on her helmet.
“It’s a good group,” Osborn said with a smile. “A lot of us have played together for years. And I think that’s part of our team chemistry and how we’ve been working together so well throughout the entire season.”
In the circle, Taylor Tobin shined again, working around a leadoff single to strike out nine without issuing a walk in six shutout innings of work.
“She’s always locked in,” Osborn said. “I’m very proud of her … She’s been doing a really good job.”
Tanner Tobin pitched the final frame, picking up a strikeout while allowing a hit.
Osborn and Karlee Coleman finished with two hits apiece, and Osborn finished with four runs batted in. Smitherman added an RBI of her own, as did Rasmussen and Fragner, who both finished with a hit.
W.F. West (12-2, 8-1 2A EvCo) has now won six games in a row and remains one game clear of Aberdeen for the top spot in the EvCo.
“What I like the most is the even keel-ness,” W.F. West coach Kevin Zylstra said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, they just come in and attack the game … Right now, we’re playing the game the way it should be played, and when you do that, it takes care of business.”
On the other side, Centralia (5-8, 2-7 2A EvCo) has now lost six straight, with their last victory coming on March 30.
In four of those six losses, the Tigers have scored two or fewer runs, and they haven’t scored more than five in any of the six matchups.
“We’ll get in the cages this weekend and try to get better at the plate,” Centralia coach David Orr said. “We gotta get confidence at the plate and get back to where we were at the beginning of the season. We’ll just keep working.”
Orr expressed confidence that if the Tigers can get things going at the plate again, they have the pitching and defense to continue to compete at a high level.
On Friday, Adrianne Lynch pitched the first two and a third, and Lydia Lowe allowed just two earned runs (three total) over the final four and two-thirds.
“Our pitchers did a good job,” Orr said. “Lydia did a great job. She’s a freshman coming into a tough spot. That’s a great thing about her, nothing rattles her.”
Lynch and Ava Horst picked up Centralia’s two hits.
The Tigers will look to snap their losing streak on Monday in Aberdeen.
The same afternoon, the Bearcats will host Tumwater for the second time this season. A win would keep W.F. West at least a game up on Aberdeen for first, something the Bearcats already have their eye on with districts two weeks away.
“Right now, we don’t care who we beat. We just want wins,” Zylstra said. “It matters a lot where you finish. We’re very aware of that, and we know that if we just take care of business and keep winning, we’ll end up No. 1. And that’s what we really want.”
