MONTESANO — Against the same foe in the same situation, the Napavine softball team fell for the second straight season in the first round of the 2B District 4 tournament to Raymond-South Bend Monday afternoon in Grays Harbor, 12-9.
Down 8-0 heading in to the sixth, the Tigers made a late rally and tied it up, with senior Dani Tupuola hitting a 3-RBI triple to get it started and Avery Schutz hitting a 3-RBI double to end it and make it anyone’s ball game in the seventh, but another 4-spot from the Ravens in the seventh spelled the Tigers’ doom.
That, and a tough start in the first five innings.
“It’s our approach,” Tigers coach Josh Fay said of the poor performance to start the game. “We need to look for our pitch and be aggressive in getting it. I thought we saw that in the last two innings, even some of the outs were kids being aggressive at the plate and getting their pitch.”
In her final game as a Tiger, Tupuola went 3 for 3 with a single, a double, and a triple, knocking in three runs. Leadoff hitter Taylen Evander also went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, a walk drawn, and an RBI.
Hannah Fay got the start in the circle and allowed seven runs on five hits and five walks with a strikeout. Senior Cailyn Milton went the final three innings and gave up five runs on six hits with a strikeout and no walks.
The loss means the Tigers’ season is over a game before the double elimination round of the 2B District 4 tournament at Borst Park in Centralia later this week.
“We’ve gotten better,” Fay said of the progress the Tigers have made. “We understand the game better, we generally get the ball where it's supposed to go and don’t give up a lot of extra bases. I like the way we compete, it would’ve been easy to quit today and I was proud of how they competed today.”
Seniors Tupuola and Milton played their final games in orange and black, and Fay made sure to give them flowers for all they’ve done for the program over the last several seasons.
“They’ve put a lot of time in,” he said. “They’ve been great role models for these kids and are nice human beings. They’ve helped send us in the right direction and hopefully we can get to where we want to go.”
