YAKIMA — She’s a three-sport athlete yet softball is the one where playing time is more permanent than volleyball and girls basketball.
So when Alyssa Carroll has an error or struggles at the plate, it admittedly gets to her. The sophomore and two-year starter for Adna High School gets reminded minute-by-minute to shake it off.
“It is hard for me to do that, but I’ve learned that it is easier to let it go and get the next ball,” Carroll said. “They talk to me all the time and they’re staying with me.”
No better time to invoke the musical lyrics of Taylor Swift than the Class 2B state tournament.
Carroll came through for the third-seeded Pirates with a two-run triple that she also scored on and a two-run blast to left-center to aid them to a 15-5, five-inning quarterfinal triumph over sixth-seeded Kittitas on Friday night at the Gateway Sports Complex.
In the Round of 16 11-1, five-inning victory over Warden plus the win over Kittitas, Carroll finished with four hits, seven runs batted in and scored four times.
“I thought it was great because that’s going to help her defensively and get her mind back to the old Alyssa Carroll,” Adna senior catcher Danika Hallom said. “She cares so much about softball.”
It puts the Pirates (19-6) once again in the semifinals on their quest to finish off a three-peat. What stands in their way is a familiar foe in second-seeded Pe Ell/Willapa Valley, a rematch from last year’s 3-2 quarterfinal win.
The oddity of the 2025 journey is its flipped-flopped from 2024.
Warden: Championship to first round
Kittitas: Semifinal to quarterfinal
PWV: Quarterfinal to semifinal
“We fight for it every year,” Adna head coach Bruce Pocklington said. “We know we have to play defense and score runs. We finally started getting going and kept our plan. When we do that, we’re pretty good.”
Carroll had two errors that directly resulted in a two-run home run by Elysa Nash in the top of the first and a groundout that plated Rillee Huber in the third.
What was the response? Emphatic.
Her triple in the third was laced to the gap and a bobble by the centerfielder kept her chugging and rounded towards home where she let out a loud yell. Then after Adna captured the lead back at 6-4, the right-hander launched a two-run shot to make it an 8-4 lead.
The Pirates never trailed the remainder of the night.
“It was a really big confidence boost and helped me flush the errors I had earlier in the game,” Carroll said.
“It was huge,” Pocklington added. “She’s back with us. She’ll run through a brick wall and she plays hard.”
While both wins for Adna were via run-rule, the starts were far from ideal.
It trailed the Cougars 1-0 before scoring three in the bottom of the first to seize control. It faced a 3-0 deficit versus the Coyotes only for the Pirates to outscore their opposition 15-2 over the final three frames.
Kendall Humphrey went 4-for-4 with three RBIs in the quarterfinals that came after a three-RBI performance in the first round. Leadoff hitter Hadleigh Gerard crossed home plate three times versus Warden while Hallom finished with three total RBIs.
“We had confidence,” Hallom said.
The C2BL and P2BL champs met in the regular season, a 19-5 blowout by the Pirates. Carroll, Hallom and Pocklington know that PWV has been swinging one of the hottest bats in the tournament to this point.
Still, the internal belief isn’t going away with the chance at history still on the table.
“We all have chemistry together,” Carroll said. “We all have that connection.”
