ADNA — Forks rallied to plate three runs and send the Class 2B Southwest District Softball Championship game to extra innings, but Adna had the answer with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge the Spartans 4-3.
“They played their hearts out until the very end,” Spartans coach Traci Kratzer said.
“As far as I’m concerned, this was our state tournament with the quality of teams we played. We are very proud of how the girls played. The game went how I wanted it to go, Adna just made a couple more plays.”
Adna (18-0) is the defending 2B state champs from 2019 and Forks (11-3) beat previously undefeated perennial state power Pe Ell-Willapa Valley in the district semifinals, along with district wins over Toledo and Napavine.
The Pirates rolled through their two other district games by a combined score of 23-1.
“We turned some heads,” Kratzer said. “We had coaches from other teams come up to congratulate us for how well we competed and made it a game.”
Forks’ rally started when Kyra Neel walked, Josey Grant singled and Kray Horton singled to cut the score to 3-1.
Aspen Rondeau’s one-out double, her second double of the game, scored Grant and Horton to notch the score at 3-all.
Rondeau also doubled and reached third base in the fourth inning on a Keira Johnson single, but the Spartans couldn’t turn those baserunners into runs.
“She had a really great game,” Kratzer said of Rondeau. “She made some amazing stops in the outfield as well as Kray. Our defense got to make some plays today, and it was probably our best defense of the season. Kadie Wood made a double play in the infield.”
Chloe Leverington had 12 strikeouts in her last outing as a Spartan along with classmates Horton and Colbie Rancourt.
“We only have three seniors, so we are a young team, every infielder is a sophomore or freshman,” Kratzer said. “I’m really excited to learn from what we did this year and excited for next year already.”
