*UPDATED 11:45 a.m. Saturday
YAKIMA — Forks dispatched No. 3 seed Okanogan 12-1 in five innings in a semifinal Saturday at Gateway Sports Complex and the Spartans will play for their first state softball championship at 3 p.m.
A win would give Forks the first ever state championship in school history. The Spartans wrestling team placed second in 2014 in the previous best team performance.
Forks did enough in the first inning to take down Okanogan. Keira Johnson doubled home younger sister Bailey, Liz Soto followed with another RBI double and Chloe Gaydeski came through with an RBI single for an early 3-0 lead.
The seventh-seeded Spartans (17-7) added another in the second on a Kadie Wood RBI single and exploded for eight runs in the third.
Soto added a two-run double to get things going in the big inning and after some baserunning and Okanogan errors brought in a pair of runs, Kyra Neel rounded out the scoring with a two-run double to center.
Gaydeski wasn’t bothered in the circle throwing strikes on 38 of her 48 pitches and allowing one run on five hits.
Forks will face either No. 1 Adna or No. 4 Ocosta in the championship. Adna led 6-4 late in the contest.
Forks 2-0 Friday
YAKIMA — Forks reached the Class 2B State Softball semifinals with only a bit of trouble Friday, dusting No. 10 seeded Brewster 13-5 in a loser-out contest before knocking off No. 2 seed Warden 10-5 in a state quarterfinal Friday afternoon at the Gateway Sports Complex.
The Spartans will face the No. 3 Okanogan Bulldogs (20-2) at 10 a.m. today. Okanogan beat Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 7-5 in another quarterfinal.
The Spartans led 10-0 against Warden and were looking to close out the contest via the 10-run rule when the Cougars plated four in the bottom of the sixth.
Warden put one more across while down to its last out, but Forks’ Chloe Gaydeski was up for the challenge and recorded the final out via a ground out.
Gaydeski also helped her own cause immensely at the plate with a grand slam home run in the top of the fourth.
Liz Soto doubled home two runs for Forks and Kadie Wood also added a two-run single.
Against Brewster the Spartans went up 5-0 after two full innings highlighted by Kadie Wood’s two-out, two-run single. Forks let the Bears back into it with a four-run third, but the Spartans kept the bats rolling.
Forks took full control with three runs in the home half of the third and fourth innings.
Kaidence Rigby had an RBI single, Bailey Johnson an infield single that scored a run and a line drive RBI single to right field by Wood.
Chloe Gaydeski added an RBI double and was one of two Spartans to come around and score on a Brewster error.
Keira Johnson added a solo home run and Haven Hoffman connected on an RBI single to round out Forks’ runs.
Riders 2-1, playing Saturday
SELAH — Port Angeles walked it off against Lynden late Friday evening to stay alive as Freshman Lynzee Reid’s line-drive double to left brought home two runs in an 8-6 triumph over the Lions.
The Roughriders tied the game earlier in the inning when Taylor Worthington singled, moved to second on a passed ball and third on Natalie Robinson’s single and scored on a second passed ball.
Port Angeles’ Abby Kimball also hit a two-run home run and Heidi Leitz had a two-run single.
Cheyenne Zimmer pitched six innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits and four walks with seven strikeouts.
The Riders (19-6) will face a familiar foe in Olympic League opponent Olympic in a loser-out today (Saturday) at 10 a.m.
Earlier Friday, No. 6 Port Angeles (18-6) stayed alive in the Class 2A tournament with a 10-0 loser-out win over East Valley (Yakima) in five innings Friday afternoon at Carlon Park.
Natalie Robinson hit two two-run home runs in the contest to reach three on the day to power the Roughriders. Lexie Smith added a bases-clearing double and Lynzee Reid added an RBI single for Port Angeles.
Heidi Leitz was strong in the circle, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out five.
The win over the Red Devils set up another loser-out contest after press deadline Friday evening against the loser of an earlier contest between No. 8 Lynden and No. 1 North Kitsap.
A Vikings-Roughriders matchup would be the fourth meeting of the teams this season with North Kitsap taking all three, including the district championship last Saturday. The winner of Friday evening’s game is still in the hunt for third or fourth place, but will need to win two more loser-out contests again today.
Port Angeles opened the tournament Friday morning with a see-saw, back-and-forth 15-12 loss to No. 11 seed Cedarcrest.
The Roughriders spotted the Red Wolves a 4-0 lead early but answered back with five straight runs, highlighted by Ava-Anne Sheahan’s RBI single, a two-run triple to the gap in right-center field by Taylor Worthington, Natalie Robinson’s two-run home run.
After a third inning solo shot by Heidi Leitz, the Riders went up 6-4. Leitz’s bases-loaded double drove in three as Port Angeles went up 9-7 in the bottom of the fourth.
Cedarcrest put up eight runs in the final two innings to go up 15-10 heading to the Riders’ last turn at-bat.
Port Angeles plated two and had the winning run at the plate with two outs before a Smith strikeout wrapped the game.
Class 1B Quilcene falls
YAKIMA — The No. 7-seeded Rangers were stung 14-1 by No. 2 Inchelium in a Class 1B State Softball Tournament quarterfinal Friday at the Gateway Sports Complex.
Quilcene was eliminated by No. 6 Mossyrock 10-0 in a loser-out contest Friday evening.
