ELLENSBURG — The North Olympic 16U softball team’s dreams of a second straight Babe Ruth World Series appearance are alive and well.
The all-star squad won the first two games of its Pacific Northwest Regional double elimination bracket Saturday to move within one win of its tenth 16U World Series trip in 11 seasons.
The 16Us will get two chances to do it, too, starting with today’s game against rival Hoquiam at 10 a.m. in Ellensburg.
Lose that, and the 16Us will play Hoquiam again later today in a winner-take-all affair.
The North Olympic 14U softball team will play for its own Babe Ruth softball regional crown as well today thanks to a narrow 4-3 victory in extra innings against East Boise on Saturday in Ellensburg.
Its 12U counterpart, however, saw its season come to an end in regional play Saturday.
After splitting its pool play games Friday, North Olympic’s 16U team was forced to come through the double elimination bracket the hard way.
The all-stars did just that, first crushing Upper Rogue River 22-1 in an opening round pigtail, then slipping past Hoquiam 2-1 in the semifinals.
Pitchers Lauren Curtis and Mariah Frazier held Upper Rogue of southern Oregon to just three hits while the North Olympic bats pummeled its pitching staff.
Raelyn Lucas led North Olympic with three hits, including a double and scored four runs, while Tori Holcomb added two hits and four runs and Tori Kuch two hits.
Teammates Maddi Hinrichs, Mariah Frazier and Kearsten Cox each had one hit and three runs scored, and Sarah Steinman tripled and scored two runs.
In the much-anticipated afternoon matchup, North Olympic and Hoquiam delivered another in a string of classics.
The two teams’ fifth meeting in two weeks — they split the first four — saw Steinman come through with a gem on the mound.
The Port Angeles hurler gave up an unearned run in the first inning then kept the Hoquiam bas off balance the rest of the way, mixing her pitches, pounding the strike zone and facing only two over the minimum through seven frames.
North Olympic managed only three base hits of its own but made them count in the 2-1 win.
Ralena Black Crow led off the bottom of the third for North Olympic by singling to center field, then went to third on Mckayla Cox’s base hit to center.
Hinrichs hit a ground ball to the Hoquiam third baseman, and Black Crow dashed home and slid safely under the tag of catcher Katlyn Sawyer.
An errant throw by Sawyer to get Hinrichs at second then allowed Mckayla Cox to score the eventual game winner from third.
The pendulum had swung in the opposite direction in Friday’s tournament opener against Hoquiam, 7-4 extra inning loss for North Olympic.
After taking two of three from Hoquiam to win the state tournament two weeks ago, the 16U all-stars couldn’t complete its rally from a 4-0 deficit after four innings.
Missed opportunities at the plate — the all-stars had 11 base hits but stranded just as many runners — ended up costing North Olympic dearly.
Hoquiam finally capitalized in the top of the eighth, scoring three runs on four base hits to win the pool play affair.
Friday’s second game against Upper Rouge wasn’t nearly as close, as North Olympic pounded nine hits in five innings on its way to a 15-0 mercy rule victory.
Curtis tossed a one-hitter on the mound while her teammates took advantage of a bevy of miscues from the Oregon squad.
Hinrichs and Mckayla Cox each had two hits and two runs, while Curtis bashed two triples and scored three runs and Frazier added a base hit, two stolen bases and two runs.
14Us alive
North Olympic’s 14U girls earned a spot in today’s regional championship against Hoquiam with a dramatic semifinal win Saturday.
Since there is no World Series at the 14U level, North Olympic will be playing for pride.
The 14Us stayed alive, just barely, with the extra-inning victory over East Boise.
At the end of regulation play, North Olympic and East Boise were knotted at one, each team having several opportunities to push across the winning run.
Then in the eighth inning, North Olympic plated three, the last on a pop fly in no man’s land.
East Boise scored two of its own before North Olympic could gain the final out for the win.
12U roundup
North Olympic’s 12U squad saw its season end in a 7-4 loss to host Ellensburg on Saturday.
But the all-stars didn’t go quietly, getting to within two runs after going down 6-0.
Unfortunately for North Olympic, it wasn’t able to fight all the way back in the loser-out matchup.
The 12Us had finished 3-1 in pool play after upsetting Ellensburg 6-5 and falling to state champion 7-1 on Friday.
Othello came out with the No. 1 seed in the single elimination tourney, however, because it allowed fewer runs than North Olympic and Ellensburg (also 3-1 in pool play.)
Baseball: 3Us at state
POULSBO — North Olympic’s 13U Junior Babe Ruth team moved to 3-0 in pool play with another blowout victory at the state tournament at Snider Park on Friday.
The all-star squad waxed Spokane 16-0 in a five-inning mercy rule win, with Jace Bohman pitching four frames of one-hit baseball.
Bohman struck out three and walked just one as the game’s MVP while also going 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, two RBIs and a double.
Tanner Gochnour closed the game out in the fifth inning, allowing just one batter to reach base via a walk.
Teammate Ethan Boyer went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBIs and two doubles, while Corey Stone was 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI and Austin Scarpa 2-for-3 with two runs.
Olympic next plays the Seattle Bombers today at 11 a.m. for its pool’s top seed