YAKIMA — Quilcene returned to the Class 1B State Softball Tournament and did what the Rangers have done for the past six seasons — collect more hardware for the school’s trophy case — coming home with a runner-up trophy for the second straight season after falling to Almira/Coulee-Hartline (ACH) 11-0 in six innings Saturday.

The Rangers (16-7) advanced to the title tilt by playing some of their best softball of the season Friday in dominating wins over Sunnyside Christian (9-2) and Inchelium (10-4).

“These girls played fabulously [Friday],” Quilcene coach Mark Thompson said.

“We beat Inchelium who beat ACH in their district title game. We beat up Sunnyside Christian again who is a really, solid, solid team. We have nothing to hang our heads about. We didn’t play well today, ACH played their best and they are deserving champs.”

With gusty winds whipping up dirt around the diamond and testing the limits of tent canopies lined up around the field, the Rangers struggled in the field to open the contest.

“First inning, yeah [the wind affected us],” Thompson said.

Sophomore shortstop Madison Coffey was turned around when the wind pushed ACH leadoff hitter Tiffany Boutain’s high pop up back toward left field. Coffey nearly managed to catch the ball from behind a la Willie Mays but the ball fell in and the Warriors were in business.

The next batter’s high popup fell in the infield due to a lack of communication between Ranger fielders and ACH took advantage, putting four across in the opening frame.

Quilcene rebounded and made some stellar plays in the field after that — some diving snags by freshman second baseman Gina Brown were particulary impressive — but enough damage had been done.

At-bat, the Rangers couldn’t solve the riddle of Warrior’s pitcher Sarah Bradshaw. Bradshaw allowed just two hits in the game, a first-inning bunt by Abby Weller and a Weller single to the outfield in the fourth, walked none and struck out seven.

“Their pitcher was on and she dominated us,” Thompson said.

Bradshaw wasn’t overpowering on the mound, but hit her spots and when Quilcene did put a barrel on her pitches, the ball seemed to seek out the mitts of ACH fielders.

“We hit it right to them,” Thompson said. “That’s the way this game works, though. We spent last year’s state championship doing the same thing — hitting the ball right to them.”

Thompson pointed out that no other 1B team in the state has produced six straight top-four finishes at state like Quilcene.

And he was proud of his team for returning to the championship game after a bevy of losses to graduation last season.

“I would say most people thought we wouldn’t be to get back after losing the seniors off last year’s team,” he said. “We lost our pitcher [Bailey Kieffer] and some key players.

“I mean, I heard several people say we didn’t have the horses this year. We scheduled games against tough teams and normally our record is more like 20-1 heading to state. But this year we scheduled teams like North Kitsap [a Class 2A state tournament participant] and Klahowya [1A state participant] and Forks. Our losses piled up a little bit this year and that had more people saying we didn’t have what it takes. But the girls stepped up and proved them wrong.”

“All our seniors were leaders,” Thompson said. “I decided to make all of them captains at the start of the season, so I had eight. All were leaders in their own way and a lot of them were five-year players like Sydney Brown, Hannah Williams and Allie Speer. Allie was our manager her seventh grade year, so she’s been with us all six years in a row we’ve placed at state.”

The team does have talent set to return in junior catcher Erin Macedo, first baseman McKenzie Kieffer, who missed the title game with an injury, Weller, Coffey and more.

“We will be competitive on the west side again, no matter what,” Thompson said. “Coming over here to state is just a different animal, altogether. East side 1B fastpitch is miles and miles away from the west side. Is the window shut? We’ll see.”

ACH 11, Quilcene 0

ACH 4 0 0 1 4 2 — 11 17 0

Quilcene 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 0

WP: Bradshaw LP: Weller

Pitching

ACH — Bradshaw 6IP, 0R, 2H, 7K.

Quilcene — Weller 6IP, 11R, 17H, 4BB.

Hitting

ACH — Boutain 4-5, RBI; Oliver 3-5, 2B, 2RBI; Bradshaw 2-4, 2B, 2RBI; Parrish 1-3, BB, 2B, 2RBI; Pierce 2-3, BB, 2B, 2RBI.

Quilcene — Weller 2-2.

Quilcene’s Madison Coffey applies a tag at second base in the 1B State Championship game in Yakima against Almira/Coulee-Hartline. (Roger Harnack/Daily Sun News)

Quilcene’s Gina Brown makes a play at second base during the 1B State Championship game in Yakima on Saturday. (Roger Harnack/Daily Sun News)