ADNA — For Adna Pirates head coach Bruce Pocklington, 11 runs isn’t enough against rival Napavine. After all, his team has scored at least 14 runs in five of its six wins coming into Thursday’s home contest against the Tigers.
But an 11-1 run-rule victory and a seventh straight win over Napavine dating back to 2018 won’t hurt for the reigning back-to-back 2B state champions. Senior Danika Hallom and freshman Hadleigh Gerard recorded three knocks apiece and were not retired in a combined eight plate appearances.
“They held us to 11 runs today. Not too many teams have been doing that, and it wasn’t 11 runs until late,” Pocklington said. “They’re the best team we’ve played out of the Pacific or the Central [2B Leagues] so far.”
The Pirates were collectively ready to go from the first inning behind starting pitcher Avery LaFontaine, who disposed of her first three batters faced. Gerard, fresh off a two-hit, two-RBI day against Mossyrock Monday, took advantage of a hanging 3-1 pitch from Hannah Fay for a single to lead off the first. She came around to tally the first run of the day via Hallom’s RBI right-field single.
Kendall Humphrey and Brytin Dollarhyde tacked on two more runs before the first inning was complete. In the second, Napavine’s Lyla Kirkpatrick rewarded Fay’s leadoff walk on an RBI double that narrowly zipped past the diving glove of second baseman Gerard.
With the tying run at the plate, LaFontaine took care of Clara Fay on a lineout to second and Tarynn Dalebout on a three-pitch punchout. Pocklington was impressed with how his right-hander handled adversity in the circle.
“She’s doing a better job with that. When she lets her defense play, we’re pretty good. She kept grinding and threw strikes, and that’s what she needs to do,” he said. “She’s getting better. The last three or four outings, she’s thrown more strikes than she had earlier. At this point, it’s pretty crucial that we’ve gotta be strike throwers.”
Napavine had a golden opportunity to tie or take the lead in the third inning as Taylen Evander reached on a single and Grace Pancake gave them two runners in scoring position via an infield error. With two outs, Hannah Fay grounded out to silence their chances.
The Pirates sensed that the Tigers were inching closer and giving them more of a run for their money than they’ve seen out of their rivals. In the last six meetings between the two C2BL foes, Adna outscored Napavine 86-1 and hadn’t allowed a Tiger to cross home plate since 2019.
Hallom began the third-inning rally with a soft single to right, and Humphrey joined her on the bases on a single of her own. The Pirates brought a run home on each of the next three at-bats, as Dollarhyde, Khloe Hunt and LaFontaine collected an RBI each to make it 6-1.
After the Tigers had two runners in scoring position in the third, LaFontaine and the Pirates defense halted any opportunities for them to chip away at the lead. LaFontaine retired seven of her final nine batters faced and finished with six strikeouts over five innings.
Hallom’s second RBI and third hit of the day came on a double to score Gerard, and Humphrey knocked in her first triple of the year to plate Hallom. Adna (7-3, 3-0 C2BL) piled on three more runs in the fifth as Gaby Guard and Kennedi Elliott-Hudson picked up RBIs and Hallom was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Hallom finished with her first three-hit day of the season.
“I had a lot of confidence,” Hallom said of her performance, in which she raised her batting average to .586. “Our dugout was awesome. Being loud and confident really gets you ready to go.”
Pocklington liked the team’s approach at the plate and base running, but he said the team still has work to do with eight regular season games to go.
“We’ve still gotta play catch. That’s our downfall right now,” he said. “We’re making too many four-out innings, and we can’t afford to do that with where we’re at.”
Napavine (7-3-1, 2-1 C2BL) logged just four hits in the losing effort. Head coach Josh Fay said the team’s approach and energy changed after failing to bring in runs in the third.
“We’re just gonna have to get mentally tougher as a team. I thought for three innings that we played like we wanted to be here, and then for about two, we just kind of checked out,” he said. “I thought our body language was kind of rough. We’re gonna have to do a better job of competing, regardless of winning or losing.”
Adna will visit Winlock (1-9, 0-3 C2BL) on Monday at 4 p.m., while Napavine gets a week off before heading to Morton-White Pass (5-5, 0-1 C2BL) on Thursday, April 24 at 4 p.m.
