When Avery Osborn sprinted home on the final play of W.F. West’s win on Wednesday, W.F. West coach Kevin Zylstra had one simple thought.
“What went through my mind is ‘Thank God,’” Zylstra said with a smile.
Osborn sprinted home and scored the walk-off winner in the Bearcats’ 3-2 victory over Centralia, a win that seals an EvCo title and the league’s No. 1 seed in the upcoming district tournament.
“Incredibly proud,” Zylstra said. “We’re a young team, but we’ve got a lot of experience at the same time, and the girls are on a mission … I’m just very proud of them.”
Osborn opened the inning with a line drive single to lead, and later in the inning, she advanced to second on a wild pitch before stealing third on the next pitch.
After Karlee Coleman drew a walk, Zylstra called the first-and-third play, and both Coleman and Osborn executed it to perfection.
Coleman initially broke to steal second just long enough to draw a throw, and as she slowly backed towards first base, she got the attention of the Centralia defense just long enough for Osborn to steal home and seal the victory.
“We were hoping that that would be a quick pop back home and we would get that runner (coming home),” Centralia assistant coach Teresa Ramirez said. “We’re still working on the mental aspect of the game and for girls to make the right decision in the moment.”
It was a tough end of the game for the Tigers, who played one of their best games of the season despite the final outcome.
“Centralia played lights out,” Zylstra said. “They were prepared. They played extremely hard, and they gave us everything we could handle. We’re just fortunate to come out with a win.”
W.F. West struck first in the second, as Taylor Tobin hit an RBI single, but Centralia took the lead with a two-run double from Brooklyn Sprague in the fifth.
“Brooklyn’s been working hard all year long to put bat to ball in an effective way,” Ramirez said. “She’s put in a ton of time. I just like to see things pay off for the girls that have put it so many hours in the cages and with our coaches. She just puts in so much time, so anytime she succeeds, I think we all feel grateful for that moment for her.”
Allie Smitherman tied the game at two in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI single of her own, but Centralia’s Adrianne Lynch was able to strand two runners on base to keep the game tied.
Lynch ended up pitching a complete game, allowing eight hits and just three runs while walking three and striking out four.
“This was the best pitching performance she’s had,” Ramirez said. “She commanded the mound tonight and put in a stellar performance. We couldn’t be prouder of her.”
Tobin also worked through a lot of traffic on the basepaths, and other than Sprague’s double in the fifth, she stranded every other runner that reached.
She also pitched the entire game, allowing just six hits and two earned runs while walking two and striking out eight.
“We wanted to keep her pitch count down, and (Centralia) did a good job of not letting us do that,” Zylstra said. “Taylor just battled her butt off.”
In addition to scoring the winning run, Osborn collected two hits, as did Brooklyn Spencer. Tobin and Smitherman finished with a hit and an RBI apiece, while Coleman and Tanner Tobin also tallied a hit each.
Had the Bearcats lost, the pressure would have shifted to Friday, when they would’ve faced Aberdeen in a winner-take-all game to decide the league champion. Not only did the Bearcats avoid that scenario, but they also ensured that they ended up on the opposite end of the district bracket as Mark Morris, which won the GSHL and currently sits at 17-1 overall.
While Friday’s matchup in Aberdeen will no longer have seeding implications, Zylstra said that the plan is to continue to tinker with different combinations to give different players at different positions, something that could come in handy in the postseason.
He was forced to move things around on Wednesday, as Rayah Middleton was out. Coleman moved to short, and Aubree Lloyd played third base.
“We have to be ready for any freak thing that can pop up, and it can pop up,” Zylstra said. “When you least expect it, it will pop up. We gotta have those players ready to play those positions.”
While W.F. West (17-2, 13-1 2A EvCo) knows that it will begin district play next Thursday, May 14, at Recreation Park, Centralia’s postseason fate is still to be determined.
The Tigers (5-13, 2-12 2A EvCo) will host Black Hills on Friday in a game where the winner secures the EvCo’s fourth and final postseason spot. The victor will play the GSHL’s No. 5 seed, either Hockinson or R.A. Long, in a pigtail on Tuesday.
“It’s a tough one, but I told the girls that softball is a little about the game and a lot about life,” Ramirez said. “The grit and resilience that a lot of our players show every day, to just continue to keep battling, that’s what it’s about … That’s how we recover from things like this, because the losses stink.
“We’re looking forward to getting ourselves right,” she continued. “The bats have come back around, so we’re looking forward to Friday, trying to pick up a win.”
