SELAH — Heading into the seventh inning of a consolation semifinal against Woodland, Tumwater was holding onto a one-run lead.
The T-Birds had lost earlier in the day on Saturday to Aberdeen in a state semifinal, but a win against the Beavers would put them in the third-place game and guarantee that they would leave Selah with a trophy.
Moments later, the T-Birds trailed 2-1, and they were suddenly down to their final three outs of the season.
“We just wanted to fight to play one more game together,” senior Ella Ferguson said.
The T-Birds rallied in the bottom half, walking off the Beavers for a 4-2 victory before losing to Mark Morris 14-1 in the third-place game to finish fourth at the state tournament.
It’s Tumwater’s third top-4 finish in the last four seasons.
“The wind was taken out of their sails,” Tumwater coach Shaunie Kennedy said. “When that happens, it’s hard to come back and build. It came down to just having a little bit of grit. I told them ‘this isn’t us. We don’t quit. We gotta go out there and do it.’ And they pulled through.”
Marissa La Praim was the hero against Woodland, blasting a walk-off two-run double off the fence down the left field line to bring home the winning runs.
For La Praim, Ferguson, and the rest of the T-Birds, the final matchup against Mark Morris was one chock-full of emotions. After the final out was recorded, nobody paid too much attention to the final score.
“At the end of the day, it’s more about the bond we built and how special this team was,” Ferguson said through tears. “The group that we have is just so special … We’re just glad we got extra time together.”
Ferguson later came back in the game in the circle, but when she initially was taken out of the game in the third inning, she took a moment to hug Kennedy and every single one of her teammates as she made her way to the dugout.
Ferguson also mentioned that during one of their practices before the state tournament began, the entire team took a few moments to take it all in on the field before beginning play.
“It was really special,” Ferguson said. “We’ve played on this field so many times in state tournaments. To just have the girls that were there with me from freshman year and our state runs was really important to me. I’m really glad that we got the opportunity to do that.”
Ferguson, La Praim, and Tumwater’s five other seniors — Jamie Haase, Erika Schock, Zoe Fields, Elizabeth McCartney, and Mackinzee Odorcich — have plenty to be proud of.
During their four-year run, the T-Birds won a state championship, finished second in 2024, and finished fourth this season. They also won a district title this spring, and they end the 2025 season with a 22-4 record.
This was Kennedy’s first year with the group, but she said they all quickly learned to love and trust each other. The bond only strengthened as the season went along.
“Those seniors are gonna take everything that they’ve learned through their high school career and this year, and they’re gonna apply it to the rest of their life,” Kennedy said. “With me, that’s a total win … They definitely won in life, I think. They’re gonna take all of this, and they’re gonna prosper.”
Ferguson echoed a similar sentiment.
“We’re a stronger team than we’ve ever been,” Ferguson said. “It didn’t come out the way we wanted it to, but I still wouldn’t have gone out with anyone else.”
