W.F. West holds off Columbia River in high-scoring affair

There were no early-season nerves for the W.F. West and Columbia River offenses in Chehalis on Thursday, as the two teams combined for 28 runs in W.F. West’s 16-12 victory.

Seven different Bearcats got a hit in the win, including three players who got three hits each.

“We were consistent throughout the lineup,” W.F. West coach Kevin Zylstra said. “Turned it over quite a bit. That’s the key, you get hits from everybody. For us, that’s a big key. We want our big hitters coming up over and over”

The Rapids took a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Bearcats responded with a six-spot in the second. The two sides continued to go back-and-forth throughout the rest of the game.

Columbia River took a 7-6 lead in the fourth, only for W.F. West to scratch across three more to take the lead back heading into the fifth. The Rapids cut the lead to one in the next half-inning, and the Bearcats added four more in the bottom half to lead 13-8 going into the sixth.

Taylor Tobin helped settle the storm in the circle, as she pitched an inning and two-thirds of scoreless ball and struck out four of the five batters she faced.

“Nice to see her take command,” Zylstra said. “That was really good to see. She had a look in her eye that I knew she was on.”

The Bearcats will be right back to it on Friday at Recreation Park, where they’ll host Camas.

“We need to do a better job,” Zylstra said. “We’re a team that can give up two to three runs, I feel good … Defensively, made a couple mistakes. Just got to tighten up the pitching.”