YAKIMA — When the Class 2B state tournament bracket was released last weekend, two things caught the eye of the Toledo High School softball team.
One, they were again a double digit seed, nearly 365 days after last year’s team reached the semifinals as the No. 10 seed.
Two, staring in their faces was a rematch with District 4 champ Raymond/South Bend in the quarterfinals, the same round in districts that it clipped the Riverhawks’ wings by a 3-2 verdict.
“It is definitely helping us prepare for what’s to come,” ace pitcher Peyton Holter said.
Revenge on the seeding committee and the Ravens was dished out on a silver platter. Toledo feasted on Friday.
A four-run top of the seventh allowed the No. 12 seed to triumph over fifth-seeded Liberty 5-3 in the Round of 16 before toppling RSB in a thrilling 8-7 quarterfinal victory to put the Riverhawks in the semifinals for the second straight year at the Gateway Sports Complex.
“We knew we couldn’t give up,” sophomore outfielder Zaya Norberg said.
With Adna and PWV facing off in the other semi, three D4 teams will have the opportunity to play for a state title. There hasn’t been a non-D4 champ in 2B softball since Northwest Christian won in 2018 and prior to that, Concrete brought home the championship in 2007.
SW Washington’s second home is Yakima this time of year.
“I say it every year, District 4 is the same caliber as the state tournament,” Toledo head coach Jeff Davis said. “We have tough teams in our district; we have tough teams in our league. They just wanna get here. They don’t care, they’re gonna battle.”
Emma Woodard and Rahkelle Miller are the lone upperclassmen on the roster. Just a year ago, it was a collection of freshmen and eighth graders that spurred their way to the semifinals only to leave without any hardware.
A year older and more mature has Toledo (19-6) feeling different heading into a showdown with top-seeded Freeman.
“We work harder in practice because we’ve had the experience and we want to keep getting this experience,” Holter said.
Just a week ago at Fort Borst Park, RSB upended the Riverhawks in a low-scoring affair. Tied at one after three innings on Friday, they broke the game open with a seven-run fourth on the backs of two RBI singles, two runs scored on errors and a Kailea Lairson two-run triple.
Lairson also had a triple in the first game versus Liberty.
“Our dugout being up and loud the whole time helps a lot,” Norberg said.
The Ravens started to get the timing down on Holter and Davis pulled the Co-C2BL MVP in the sixth for Brenna Carver, the clear cut No. 2 pitcher on the staff. Carver faced four batters and gave up a couple hits, but left the circle protecting Toledo’s lead.
Davis was gonna keep Carver in for the seventh. Yet Holter wanted the ball to shut the game down.
“Win, lose or draw, I thought it was the right move,” he said. “I guess I have a soft spot sometimes. She (Holter) has been a force for us all year.”
A pop out and groundout kept the tying run on base and sent the Riverhawks into euphoria. Norberg went 3-for-3 while Carver and Audrey Cooper each notched two hits as their Nos. 8 and 9 hitters.
The first round game started out as a pitcher’s duel between Holter and Liberty’s Jordyn Jeske.
The two righties were matching zeros on the scoreboard until Norberg laced a single that went off the glove of Lancers third baseman Jesse Brumley for the first run of the day. It stayed that way until a three-run bottom of the sixth put Liberty ahead 3-1.
Toledo loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and Holter’s single plus an error tied the game at 3-3. Camryn Hurley hit a deep sacrifice fly to put it ahead and Norberg finished off the multi-hit game with another run-scoring base hit.
“I was in a slump and I’ve come out of that and it's really showing,” Norberg said.
Last year’s run to the semis was offense-driven with 38 total runs in the first two games. This time around has been with defense and being clutch in the big moments.
And now, the Riverhawks don’t want to see another chance at playing for a state title go by the wayside.
“We know what happened last year and we don’t want the same things to happen (again),” Holter said.
