State softball roundup: Peninsula Seahawks win 3A title, first in program history
Alli Kimball found another gear and transformed herself from near-exhaustion into energized force.
Having found that zone, the Peninsula senior shut down Snohomish over the final two innings of the 3A state championship softball game at Regional Athletic Complex as the Seahawks earned not only the school’s first-ever placing in state softball but took home its first championship, 4-1, over the Panthers.
It was Kimball that provided the big blow offensively as well, just a ½-inning before. Her three-run home run with one out in the top of the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie and set the stage for Peninsula’s title win.
“It was such a big moment,” Kimball said. “From that point on, I just knew. I wanted to be a state champ. We really wanted it. We wanted it so bad.”
Kimball’s game-winning blast got set up, of course, earlier in the sixth. Just before the inning began, catcher Hailey Ruckle shared a laugh in the on-deck circle with Peninsula coach Mike Paul as the coach walked by on his way to the third-base coaching box.
What did the two share in that moment, besides a quick laugh?
“I told him not to worry, that we were going to do this,” Ruckle said.
Leading off the inning from her No. 9 spot in the batting order, Ruckle got the winning rally started with a single into right center field. It was just the third hit of the game for Peninsula, who had taken a 1-0 lead on Malia Coit’s first-inning solo home run.
“She was tired. She had nothing left,” Peninsula coach Mike Paul said of his catcher. “But she carried us through.”
Avery Clark managed to tie the game at 1-1 for the Panthers with a soft double just over the head of Peninsula third baseperson Kallee Waage. That brought home Emma Hansen, but also proved the extent of the rally.
With Ruckle aboard, leadoff batter Glory Estabrook hit a ball to second. But the throw to Hansen was off and both runners ended up safe. One out later, Kimball strode to the plate.
“If I don’t get that hit, Alli can’t drive me in,” Ruckle said. “If she doesn’t get the hit, I don’t score.”
The three-run blast changed the demeanor in both dugouts, and pushed Kimball to work even faster on the mound over the final two innings. It energized the senior who wasn’t even sure in November whether she’d be able to play this season, after she was involved in a car accident that left her with whiplash in her pitching arm.
Pitching her fourth game in two days at the state tournament, Kimball bore down. Staked with the lead, she didn’t allow another Panther batter to reach base. She struck out three of the final six. She induced a soft lineout to Estabrook at shortstop and a groundout to Estabrook’s sister, Grace, at second.
“Alli took us to a whole different level,” Paul said. “She was tired. But she was like, ‘You are not winning. We are not going to lose.’”
And finally, Kimball ended it herself when Snohomish senior Bridget Jones hit a line drive back up the middle. Kimball shot her glove into the air to snag the ball for the final out of the game, handing the Panthers their first loss to a 3A school all season.
After a 7-3 semifinal victory earlier on Saturday, Snohomish was 27-0 against 3A teams this spring. The Panthers only losses until the title game were against 4A finalists Glacier Peak and Jackson, as well as Lake Stevens.
“This team,” Paul said. “They just don’t know how to lose. It doesn’t matter. They get behind. They boot the ball.”
And the Seahawks booted it for four errors to fall behind in their semifinal against Roosevelt, 6-1, after an inning and a half before rallying for an 11-6 win that got them to the championship.
“But they don’t get on top of each other,” Paul said. “They find a way to win.”
4A
SEMIFINALS
No. 6 Glacier Peak 2, No. 10 Kentwood 1
Senior starter Faith Jordan twirled a one-run complete game, and Glacier Peak rallied for a late run to upend Kentwood in Saturday’s state semifinal.
Kentwood’s Sarah Wright was stellar — her complete game featured two runs (one earned) with two walks and seven strikeouts — but Briannica Titus drove in Glaicer Peak’s winning run on a sixth-inning ground ball to right field, misplayed by the Conquerors.
Jordan issued three singles and two walks, striking out 13 and holding Kentwood without an extra-base hit. She struck out the side in the seventh inning and whiffed five of her last seven batters faced.
Glacier Peak is now one win away from hoisting a state title, and will meet No. 1 Jackson in the championship game at 4 p.m. in Richland.
2A
SEMIFINALS
No. 1 North Kitsap 10, No. 13 Enumclaw 0 (6)
Reese Anderson blanked Enumclaw across six innings, a dominant performance in the circle that pushed North Kitsap over Enumclaw in Saturday’s state semifinal.
Anderson whiffed seven and surrendered only two hits and two walks, as North Kitsap’s offense jumped for three runs in the first inning and six more in the third.
Sophomore first baseman Kasey Wallace slapped a one-out, RBI double in the first inning to open scoring, and North Kitsap never looked back.
Anderson took a no-hitter into the fourth inning before Enumclaw’s Madison Higginbotham lasered an infield single, unplayable at shortstop.
Hornets starting pitcher Kaylee Henry singled in the fifth inning, but Anderson prevented further damage — and scattered the pair of singles, to boot.
The top-ranked Vikings storm into the 2A championship game later Saturday, their opponent to be determined. North Kitsap meets No. 3 Ridgefield or No. 10 Aberdeen at 3 p.m. in Selah.
Enumclaw moves to the consolation ladder with a third-place trophy still in play.
The Hornets began their title quest with an emphatic, shutout upset over No. 4 Selah, the tournament’s host, 4-0. Alyssa Harris tossed the complete-game shutout.
Enumclaw met No. 12 Olympic in the quarterfinals, and fended off a late rally to win, 8-6, and advance.
