The Toledo Riverhawks and Rainier Mountaineers are both one win away from returning to Yakima after losing in the 2B District 4 quarterfinals Wednesday at Fort Borst Park and bouncing back to win in elimination games.
Toledo’s offense was silenced in the quarterfinals by Raymond-South Bend in a 3-2 loss, but its bats came alive against Onalaska in a 13-3 five-inning romp to send the Loggers home. C2BL co-MVP Peyton Holter pitched all 11 innings across both games, allowing just eight hits and striking out 19 batters. She also provided a pair of RBIs against the Loggers.
Taysia Miller, Kailea Lairson and Xtyn Norberg each smacked home runs against Onalaska after the Riverhawks recorded just four hits total against the Ravens.
“I think we were a little bit uptight,” Toledo head coach Jeff Davis said of its loss to RSB. “We’re young. I think it was nerves. You want it to be just like any other game, but they’re kids. It took us a while to get going.”
Davis said he told his team in between games to “be the player that wants to be the player in the moment.” His players, especially the top of the lineup, responded against the Loggers. Miller, Holter and Lairson combined for nine hits and seven RBIs.
“We’ve been talking about that all season. Don’t hope for a ball. Want the ball,” Davis said. “I’m proud of them for bouncing back and being resilient and not quitting or giving up.”
The Riverhawks (16-5-2, 6-2 C2BL) will face a familiar foe in Napavine in a winner-to-state game Thursday at Fort Borst Park. Napavine’s 5-4 victory against Toledo on May 1 cost the Riverhawks a shot at a league title and the top seed at districts.
Meanwhile, Rainier bounced back from a rocky and wacky district quarterfinals matchup against Pe Ell-Willapa Valley in which its co-league MVP Keira Anderson was absent for the first two innings while the Titans built a sizable lead. PWV teed off on Mountaineers starter Ryleigh Cruse from the jump, hitting a home run on the second and eighth pitches of the game. The Titans scored multiple runs in every inning to win 13-0 against a Mountaineers team struggling with its youth and inexperience; multiple players were playing new positions as Anderson raced to the ballpark.
“We had to do something that we haven’t done before. Keira wasn’t there in the beginning. We’ve got kids playing infield that have never played infield,” Rainier head coach Katie Qualls said. “The expectation was, ‘Let’s get reps in, let’s make contact and let’s work on basic fundamentals and focus all of our energy on game two. That’s the one that’s gonna count.”
Rainier’s energy was clearly shifted in a positive direction against Forks, as the Mountaineers scored three in the third and three and in the fifth to help them build an 8-3 lead entering the bottom of the sixth.
Bedlam broke out in the sixth. Rainier’s defense behind starter Elaina Henry imploded with a trifecta of errors on routine plays, and the Spartans brought two runners home. Henry allowed a two-run home run in the seventh, which would have been a solo shot if not for an error, and a subsequent error turned a pop fly into a triple. With the tying run 60 feet away, Henry forced a groundout to end the game and keep Rainier’s state hopes alive.
“It just got terrible. It was really bad. Again, there’s still some youth and inexperience. It’s stuff that, moving forward, they’ll hopefully work on on their own in the offseason,” Qualls said. “They love each other. They really like spending time together. They have each other’s backs, and I think that’s a reason we’re here.”
Rainier (13-7, 5-3 C2BL) will take on Adna in a winner-to-state matchup Thursday. The Pirates knocked off the Mountaineers 13-2 on April 24. If Rainier pulls off the victory, it will face the winner of the Toledo or Napavine winner-to-state game, while a loss would require a win over the loser of that game to make it to state.
Onalaska’s season ended with two run-rule losses, first to Adna 12-2 and second to Toledo. Kate Zandell was a bright spot for the Loggers with a home run against the Pirates and another against the Riverhawks for a four-hit day. The Loggers finish with an 8-12 record and 4-4 mark in the C2BL.
“It’s hard to come away with the W in districts if you’re not playing solid. I feel sorry for my seniors, but it happens every year. You can’t play forever,” Onalaska head coach Rich Teitzel said.
The Loggers graduate three seniors: Rylee Torres, Yuliana Escalera and Cadence Cantrell.
