Avalon Myers, Monroe Dalyrmple and Aubree Nelson were shoulder-to-shoulder walking to the outfield. Those three plus Addie Froschauer and Marley McGreal embraced their coaches by the dugout.
It was the type of exit the five seniors on the W.F. West High School softball team wanted at Carlon Park, whenever it would happen.
All of their bullets were fired and their entire deck of cards were played. In the end, it wasn’t enough.
The Bearcats stranded seven runners in scoring position and never cracked the code of Addi Christensen’s screwball in dropping a 6-2 ruling to Woodland in a winner to state, elimination game on Friday night at Recreation Park.
“They’re a great bunch of kids, they played hard,” W.F. West head coach Kevin Zylstra said.
For just the second time in Zylstra’s tenure that spans over two decades, he won’t lead a team through Selah for the chance at a state title.
This year’s version had an up and down regular season. They found a way to beat state qualifiers Tumwater and Aberdeen within the league, but lost the Swamp Cup series and had a couple losing spells.
Still, W.F. West had various chances to come away with a win in its final game in Chehalis. Outside of a pair of sacrifice flies, the big hit never happened.
“I’m not frustrated with anyone,” Myers said. “It happens. I’m proud of us no matter what we did. We were right there.”
It started out with two on and one out in the first inning. It had runners in scoring position in the fifth with one retired. It loaded in the third and seventh frames. Two groundouts, a strikeout and a fly out ended those rallies.
“We couldn’t get that one tweener or home run, it just never came,” Zylstra said. “It was a little disappointing to not score like we can. We didn’t make the adjustments we needed to make.”
After throwing 193 pitches in the quarterfinal triumph over Ridgefield and another 40-plus in the semifinals versus Tumwater, sophomore Taylor Tobin fired another 49 in two-plus innings against Woodland.
Her total for the two days was 270.
“She fought so hard to try to pitch against Tumwater and we tried (tonight) and it wasn’t there,” Zylstra said. “It wasn’t for lack of effort. She ran out of gas.”
Dalrymple threw the final three and two-thirds innings and only allowed three hits. Karlee Coleman had two hits, including a double, while Gracie Elam registered a pair of hits for the Bearcats.
Myers and Dalrymple each drew two walks in their final prep softball game. Myers will play college softball for a year at Shoreline.
“Bearcat (softball) is one of those things you;ll never forget in your life and these coaches are very good,” she said.
Zylstra will attempt to replenish 75 percent of the infield and a spot start catcher. Both Tobin sisters, Coleman, Elam, Rayah Middleton and Kenley Fragner are expected to anchor the 2026 Bearcats.
Which now find themselves in a state trip spell, but Myers believes it will be short-lived.
“A lot of them haven’t felt this feeling,” she said. “All around, this team will reload and they’ll work even harder next year.”
