Rangers stung early in quarterfinal game

QUILCENE AT STATE

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The Inchelium offense packed a powerful sting Friday at the 1B State Fastpitch Softball Championship Tournament in Yakima.

Unfortunately for Quilcene, it was the Rangers who nudged the nest as the Hornets swarmed to a 14-1 win in the teams’ opening game at the state tournament.

Inchelium entered the contest as the state’s second-ranked fastpitch team. Quilcene came to the championship quarterfinals as the No. 7 seed.

The Hornets wasted no time in the matchup, using strong hitting while capitalizing on multiple Quilcene errors to take a 2-0 first inning lead that quickly grew to 10-0 by the second inning.

The Quilcene offense was absent until the fifth inning, but the Rangers’ only run wasn’t enough to stave off an early fifth-inning end to the contest.

In the consolation round, the Rangers faced the Mossyrock Vikings, and Quilcene again fell behind early following Hailey Brook’s triple on a 2-0 pitch that put Mossyrock up, 1-0.

A sacrifice fly by Delaney Marshall brought the runner home from third, and Mossyrock led 3-0 after a steal from third on a fumbled catch at home plate.

Mossyrock plated three more runs before the end of the inning, and the only relief coming the Rangers way came courtesy of a short rainstorm that halted play.

The Vikings picked up where they left off and continued to run up the score until the Ranger defense response late in the game.

With the 10-0 loss, the Rangers were eliminated from play.

Quilcene Coach Mark Thompson said the bad weather was no relief, no matter the pause it provided.

“We need to make our own breaks. We didn’t,” Thompson said.

A big factor, in both games, was the stingy defense by the Hornets and the Vikings.

“We faced some good defense. We haven’t really hit the ball well in the last three weeks. And it showed today,” he said.

“That’s part of the game,” Thompson said. “The offense goes through highs and lows. You hope the highs come at the right time. It’s just not the case this time.”

Despite the early exit, the trip to State was a record for the team. The Rangers have advanced to the championship playoffs an astounding 11 times in a row.

“This year we were set up really well to go, just based on who is in our region,” Thompson said of the squads that Quilcene played.

“There’s been years where we’ve had some tough competition. I’m not going to apologize for the teams we play. There’s a lot of teams in our league that don’t have fastpitch anymore because they’re tired of losing to Quilcene over and over. And that’s the truth,” he said.

Still, the Rangers have no choice of who they face on the field, the coach acknowledged.

“We play who’s there and we try to get better. We happened to get lucky enough to get here again. I feel our girls deserved it. I wish we would have played a little bit better, but ...” Thompson’s voice trailed off.

There were bright spots, to be sure, but they came too late to help.

“As the day went on, we started to figure some things out defensively. So I was happy that they didn’t give up and they continued to try make outs,” Thompson said.

“I think our pitching has got a lot of potential for the future. That’s what it’s going to take for us to jump back up into the elite teams here as this tournament,” he said.

“If we can find somebody to play behind the dish, I think we’ve got a shot to be here again and maybe do some damage,” Thompson added.

The Rangers took a roster of
19 players to State; eighth-graders Lily Bloom, Anna Sarnes, Kaetyn Riley, Charlotte Faye, Brianne Evans, and Neah Lake; freshmen Miley Winn; sophomores Abby Ward, Emery Reimann, Jayden Talley, Justice Ortlieb, and Chloe Hack; junior Sierra Graunke; and seniors Destiny Hack, Savannah McBride, Zoey Carver, Kaydence Yeoman, and Rhiannon Chapman.

The Rangers finished the season at 9-4 overall, and 5-0 in district play.