NAPAVINE — Thursday’s showdown between Central 2B League powers Toledo and Napavine carried plenty of stakes as the calendar turned to the final month of the season.
With a Riverhawks win, the road to the C2BL title and a top seed in the District 4 2B Tournament were well in sight, and their destiny would have been firmly in their control. A Napavine win would have essentially wrapped up a top-two seed, barring some May madness in the final week of the regular season.
It all came down to a play at the plate in a one-run game in the seventh inning. Advantage: Napavine.
With one out in the seventh and Napavine holding a 5-4 lead, Toledo’s Ellie Seely popped a fly ball single to right field, dropping in front of Tarynn Dalebout, who hit the cutoff to first baseman Hayden Kaut. Kaut quickly collected the ball and fired to catcher Clara Fay, who tagged the incoming Camryn Hurley out at home.
“Honestly, I didn’t think she was gonna go,” Kaut said of Hurley, who bypassed third from second to try to score the tying run. “But I caught it from Tarynn, and I turned and she was only halfway there.”
Closer Dakota Lyons slammed the door by striking out Brenna Carver for the third out to secure a 5-4 win, giving the Tigers a deep breath after surrendering a 5-0 lead.
“That was big. We spend a ton of time working on finding other outs,” Tigers coach Josh Fay said. “Tarynn did a nice job of fielding it and getting it in. Clara does a nice job of Hayden, and Hayden does a nice job of playing catch. It was a huge play because I didn’t want to go to extras with those guys.”
Early, it looked like the Tigers and Riverhawks were far from bound for a nailbiting seventh inning, let alone a seventh inning at all. Hannah Fay tripled and scored Lyons and Grace Pancake with one out in the first inning, and Kaut brought Fay home on an RBI single.
A Toledo error with two outs extended the inning, and Dalebout reached safely on a bunt single to score Kaut and give Napavine a 4-0 start.
After stranding a runner on third base in the first inning, the Riverhawks threatened again in the second but left two in scoring position. From that point, it was a pitching duel between Hannah Fay and Toledo’s Peyton Holter as they each retired eight batters in a row. Toledo broke the stalemate in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs for Kailea Lairson, who flew out on the first pitch for the third out.
Napavine widened its margin in the fifth thanks to another error by the Riverhawks to give Kaut her second run of the afternoon as Seely dropped a foul ball. Toledo plated its first two runs in the sixth off of Fay, who gave up a bases-loaded walk for the first run with the second coming on a fielder’s choice.
Holter sent down the Tigers in order in the sixth to bring up the top of the Riverhawks lineup in the seventh. Taysia Miller got the rally started with a single, and Lairson joined her on the bases with a single of her own. Hurley walked to load the bases and bring up Zaya Norberg, whose two-run single squeaked just past the diving Taylen Evander at shortstop and closed the gap to 5-4.
With the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first, Seely seemed to be the perfect hitter for the situation coming off a six-RBI game against Morton-White Pass on Monday. Seely swung and popped the ball up to Dalebout in right, and the right fielder played it off of one bounce and fired a dart to Kaut at first. Kaut spun toward home and threw right to Clara Fay’s left glove, which tagged Hurley’s torso before she could score.
Lyons fanned Carver to earn the save in relief of Hannah Fay, who pitched 6.1 innings and gave up four hits and four runs, two earned, and walked two while striking out zero. On the opposite side, Holter pitched six innings and struck out nine compared to one walk, allowing six hits and five runs, three earned.
Fay failed to strike out a batter for the first time this season, meaning she received plenty of help from her defense behind her in a crucial game that puts them in a new position: top two in the league.
“I was really proud of my defense,” Fay said. “We’ve never been in this position before. It’s kind of neat. I think it’ll drive some people to work harder.”
Toledo (11-4-2, 4-2 C2BL) no longer has control of its own C2BL title hopes, as a win would’ve set up a straight path if the Riverhawks won out. Now, the Riverhawks will have to rely on Adna and Napavine (10-4, 6-1 C2BL) to lose while winning their final two league games next week.
“That first inning got away from us. I think we match up with them pretty well, but they made more plays than we did,” Toledo head coach Jeff Davis said. “I was pretty proud of our girls because I thought we competed.”
Napavine heads to Rainier (9-5, 4-2 C2BL) Monday to face a Mountaineers team vying for a top-three spot, and Toledo hosts Toutle Lake (8-7, 3-4 C2BL) Monday.
