Union-Bulletin

YAKIMA - The DeSales Irish softball team went 1-2 Saturday to bring home the fourth-place trophy from the two-day Washington state Class 2B tournament at the Gateway Sports Complex.

"We got fourth out of 16 teams," Irish coach Russ Vera said. "Not bad! We had a chance to play for the championship when we faced last year's state champs, Pe Ell, in the semifinal game this morning. We just didn't play our game.

"We came back, though, and beat Toutle Lake for the second time in the tourney for the chance to play for third and fourth.

"We made it a close game against Mossyrock, came within a run in the last inning. We just couldn't get our bats going when we need to do."

Against Pe Ell, the Irish made four key errors and had four wild pitches that contributed to Trojan runs.

The Trojans did smack out seven hits, by seven different batters, and took advantage of the errors and wild pitches while stealing five bases.

The Irish gave up two unearned runs in the first inning and then ran into some bad luck in the second inning.

Two bunt singles and a blooper safety started the Trojan rally before Andi Alden tripled the bases.

From there, it was 5-0 Pe Ell.

In all, the Irish gave up eight unearned runs.

Ashyln Lyons gave up seven hits and struck out five in the circle versus Pe Ell.

The Irish scored a single run in the third and fourth innings.

In the third, Stephanie Ferrel lead off with a single. An out was recorded and Lyons followed with a one bagger herself. Alex Buley walked to load the sacks and Bobbi Prior hit a sacrifice fly to center to score the only run of the inning.

In the fourth, Claire Conley singled and reached second on a groundout.

A bunt advanced her to third and Molli Lesko was hit in the head with a pitch.

The first and third situation presented itself for DeSales. A double steal of second and home plated the run.

Against Toutle Lake, in the rematch, the DeSales bats came alive and Lyons pitched well.

DeSales scored 11 runs on 12 hits and Lyons struck out 10. Lyons gave up the 10 hits, but got the complete-game win.

Ferrel had three hits and a walk to go with four RBIs.

Lyons had a three-run inside-the-park home run and an RBI double.

Also contributing for DeSales was Lesko, who had three singles and an RBI.

The win advanced DeSales to the third and fourth place game against Mossyrock.

"Last year we got third place, but this season we only had two returners and we weren't expected to even make it to state," Vera said.

"But we've come a long ways and I'm so proud of the girls for the effort they gave all tournament and all the hard-fought games they played."

In the third-place game, the game was knotted at 2-2 in the second inning before the Mossyrock Vikings scored two more in the third.

The game remained scoreless until the seventh, when DeSales' rally was squelched by a double play and it came up one run short.

In the bottom of the seventh, Conley led off with a triple and scored on Hamada's second RBI single of the game. Then, Renee Roach popped up a bunt that was caught by the pitcher and she picked off Hamada off first base.

Ferrel grounded out sharply and it was all over for the Irish.

In the game, Hamada and Conley had two hits apiece.

Lyons managed to strikeout seven more batters and keep DeSales close all game long.

"This year," Vera said, "I had a mixture of sophomores, two juniors and freshman to go with a couple of eighth graders. We are a young team and I've got all my girls coming back to go with some new freshman.

"The future of DeSales Irish softball is bright."

Pe Ell 13, DeSales 2

Pe Ell 242 104 - 13 7 1

DeSales 001 100 - 2 5 4

Woods and Amanda Alden. Lyons and Lesko.

Hits - Pe Ell: Andi Alden , Hoke, Arrington, Ratkie, Capps, Brooks, Amana Alden. DeS: Ferrel 2, Conley 2, Lyons.

DeSales 11, Toutle Lake 5

DeSales 103 250 0 - 11 12 0

Toutle 200 021 0 - 5 10 0

HR - DeS: Lyons.

Hits - DeS: Ferrel 3, Lyons 2, Buley, James, Lesko 3, Conley, Hamada. Toutle: Kent 2, Iverson 2, Nusbaum 2, B. Deffenbaugh.

Mossyrock 4, DeSales 3

Mossy 022 000 0 - 4 9 0

DeSales 020 000 1 - 3 6 1

Alvord and Moorcroft. Lyons and Lesko.

Hits - DeS: Lyons, Conley 2, Hamada 2, Buley. Mossy: Nelson, Eastman 3, Vanderpool, Rankin, Dickinson, Dolan, Moorcraft.