PE ELL — For the second time in less than a week, Napavine found itself down late against a fellow District 4 contender. Last week, the Tigers were able to rally to top Toledo, and on Tuesday in Pe Ell, they were able to do it again.
Clara Fay tied the game in the top of the seventh with an RBI double, and Napavine scored eight runs in the top of the eighth to run away with a 14-6 victory.
“I just liked our resiliency today,” Napavine coach Josh Fay said. “We had some outs early in the game where we were putting the ball in play and hitting the ball hard. I thought our kids kept grinding away, and eventually, we got some hits to fall … I thought the kids just did a really nice job of competing.”
Not only were the Tigers down entering the top of the seventh, but they were down as much as five earlier in the game.
Down 6-1 after three, Napavine scored once in the fourth and three times in the fifth to set up Clara Fay’s tying hit in the seventh.
In the eighth, Hayden Kaut drew a bases-loaded walk to put Napavine ahead, and Clara Fay drilled a two-run single to center to extend the lead to three.
On both the seventh-inning double and eighth-inning single, the senior outfielder jumped on the first pitch she saw.
“I just knew that she was gonna throw a strike on the first pitch,” Clara Fay said.
“She just did a good job of finding them,” Josh Fay said. “She’s done a good job, and she’s resilient. She plays hard, so I’m happy for her today. Happy as a coach, and happy as a dad.”
Later in the inning, Macie Brevard added an RBI single, and four more Napavine runs came across on a pair of PWV errors.
“The thing that we’ve been working on is playing to a standard instead of a circumstance,” PWV coach Eric Hopfer said. “Some of the blooper hits, there’s nothing you can do when that snowballs … They put out a great effort to try and complete those plays, and on a couple of them, I think the circumstances got to us.”
With each at-bat that went by, the Napavine dugout became louder and more energetic.
“Everyone’s cheering now,” Clara Fay said. “We’ve just all been super positive, and we haven’t gotten down on anything.”
Early in the game, it was the Titans scoring in bunches. Izzy Milanowski hit an RBI double and an RBI triple, Sophia Milanowski drilled a no-doubter past the fence in left field, and Kaelynn Ashley hit an RBI single. Ashley and Lauren Matlock also drove in runs with RBI groundouts.
After that, though, the bats went quiet.
Napavine’s Dakota Lyons settled in in the circle, not allowing another run over the final five innings. She finished the day with nine strikeouts.
After the third, the Titans tallied just four hits.
“I think across the board, they’re a better hitting team than what they displayed tonight,” Hopfer said. “But credit to Napavine. They executed all their plays for the most part.”
Both Clara Fay and Brevard finished with three hits and four runs batted in, while Lyons helped herself out with two RBI of her own. Hayden Kaut also added a pair of hits, including a double, and an RBI.
“Hopefully, it builds some confidence,” Josh Fay said. “I think all these guys know that when you play Toledo the second time and when you play PWV the second time, the outcome could be very different. But I like where we’re at, and I like the fact that these guys are learning how to compete and hopefully building some confidence.”
Napavine (5-1) will wrap up its week with non-league matchups against Mossyrock and Rochester on Thursday and Friday in Napavine before the break.
After spring break, they’ll take on Onalaska to open league play on Monday, April 13.
“The Central (2B League) is a grind, and District 4 is a grind,” Josh Fay said. “We’re gonna enjoy it, and hopefully get back to work (Wednesday) and see if we can get things done this week.”
PWV (5-2, 2-0 P2BL) will have the rest of the week off before heading to Forks for a league doubleheader next Tuesday, April 7.
“We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and working on the things that we started this year,” Hopfer said. “It’ll all be fine. They’ll flush it, and we’ll get back to work here tomorrow.”
