Playing against a top-seeded Eureka team with just one loss on the season, Washington’s softball season came to an end Thursday with a 9-1 setback in the semifinals of the Class 4 District 3 Softball Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Lady Jays (17-8) advanced to the semifinals with a thrilling 11-10 win in eight innings Wednesday over fifth-seeded Rockwood Summit.
Eureka (17-1) was scheduled to play second-seeded Lafayette (17-7) Friday in the championship game.
Washington’s 17 wins on the season tied a school record with the 2007 team.
“Our defense was solid all year. We had three great pitchers and our lineup produced one through nine,” said Washington Head Coach Phil King. “It was a great season. The girls are great people. I call them my dream team. They are athletic, nice girls and great students.”
Rockwood Summit
Washington opened district play with a wild 11-10 win in eight innings over fifth-seeded Rockwood Summit Wednesday at Lakeview Park.
The Lady Jays led 10-2 after five innings and took a 10-3 advantage into the top of the seventh, but Summit (10-13) tied the game with seven runs.
It looked as though Washington won the game in the bottom of the seventh on a hit by Elanna Osthoff, but Lilli Mantle missed third base on her way to scoring the run and was called out on an appeal.
The Lady Jays then got the job done in the bottom of the eighth inning on a game-winning hit by Liz Klussman, scoring Kaitlin Evans.
“In the seventh inning, the low and inside strike disappeared and they were able to connect a lot of hits together to come back and tie the game,” said King. “I was really proud of my team for not giving in when momentum changed in the seventh.”
Sarah Westhoff pitched the first five innings. She allowed two runs on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Rachel Micke took over and went 1.2 frames. She allowed eight runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Klussman took over with two outs in the seventh inning and finished the game, working 1.1 perfect innings to earn the win, registering two strikeouts.
Courtney Kedroski led Washington’s offense by going 3-5 with a home run, a double, three RBIs and three runs.
Megan Freitag also belted a home run, finishing with one hit, two RBIs and one run.
Osthoff collected two hits (double and triple), one RBI and one run.
MC Landolt added two hits, one walk and one run.
Evans, Klussman, Westhoff and Micke (double) each had one hit. Evans also walked twice, scored three runs and had one RBI. Westhoff also had one walk and one RBI. Klussman has one RBI.
“Our offense exploded for the whole game,” King said. “They got a lot of girls on base, but we buckled down with our pitching and defense and got out of jams.”
Eureka
Washington was eliminated in the district semifinals against Eureka, 9-1.
The Lady Jays took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Westhoff crossed the plate.
The score remained 1-0 until Eureka tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth on a home run by Samantha Witte.
The Lady Wildcats broke it open with five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and three more in the sixth.
Klussman pitched the first five innings for Washington and suffered the loss. Westhoff worked the sixth inning.
Maddie Krumrey pitched all seven innings for Eureka, allowing six hits and registering 10 strikeouts.
