A year that exceeded expectations all season long came to an end for the Puyallup Vikings girls fastpitch team.
The Mountain View Thunder eliminated the Vikings from state tournament play, registering a 6-3 victory in a loser-out contest on May 23 at SERA Fields in Tacoma.
After trailing Mountain View for four innings, Puyallup rallied to score three runs in the top of the fifth inning, taking a 3-1 lead. Kelsey Robinson, Hanna Grove and Amanda Goings crossed the plate for Puyallup. Goings racked up an RBI and Sophia Jones tallied 2 RBI.
Mountain View rallied for one run in the bottom of the fifth, cutting Puyallup’s lead to 3-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Mountain View tacked on four runs, giving themselves a 6-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
All of Mountain View’s runs came with two outs on the board. With runners on second and third and two outs, Mountain View second baseman Jessica Guy beat out an infield single, scoring Carly Smith from third base to tie the game. Guy’s soft ground ball deflected off of the corner of Puyallup pitcher Kelsey Hamilton’s glove before rolling to Puyallup second baseman Tabitha Tomlinson. By the time Tomlinson got the ball it was too late and the game was knotted at 3-3. Following Guy’s infield single, Mountain View hitters Katie Bright and Amanda Livingston stroked back-to-back base hits into the outfield resulting in three more runs crossing the plate for the Thunder which ended up being ultimately the difference in a 6-3 win for Mountain View.
Vikings head coach Tony Batinovich said his team gained valuable experience at the state tournament this year. It was the first time the Vikings have gone this deep into the postseason since 1998.
“We have five seniors who will be graduating but we also have a lot of young players who got a taste of the state tournament,” Batinovich said. “It was the kind of experience they will look on later and be excited about it. Our goal is to learn from this, get back here next year and do even better.”
Batinovich credited Mountain View for getting timely hits when they needed it.
“They were just the better team today. Our defense played just fine,” Batinovich said. “They just got the hits and put them in the right places.”
Jones, who is one of the five seniors who are graduating, said she will always cherish the memories of the 2008 season.
“We came out here and played our hardest. We made it to state,” Jones said. “It just sucks that we can’t play anymore games though. We had a great year though and did something a Puyallup team hasn’t done in a long time.”
Richland rallies for comeback victory
Puyallup was six outs away from putting away the Richland Bombers in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament on May 23 at SERA Fields.
Puyallup was in control of a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, but much to the chagrin of the Vikings, Richland rallied for two runs in the inning and held on for a 2-1 victory when it was all said and done.
Richland outfielder Sydney Cejka singled to center field scoring Katie King from second base. Unfortunately for Puyallup, the ball got past Puyallup center fielder Sophia Jones, scoring Shelby Haag from first base resulting in the Bombers scoring their second and final run of the game.
Batinovich said Richland’s rally in the sixth wasn’t the difference in the game.
“We had a lot of opportunities earlier in the game to put more runs on the board,” Batinovich said. “We had some mental mistakes that cost us. We had a runner on third twice with no outs and didn’t push them in. Our timely hitting wasn’t there. You can’t make mistakes at this level of play and expect to win. Richland is a good team and they never gave up.”
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