LACEY — On an afternoon where Nevaeh Haagen and Porsha Miller combined to throw Timberline’s second no-hitter of the season in a 14-0 rout of Bellarmine Monday, it was freshman Brynnli Mayr who stole the show.
Mayr started at first base on defense but wasn’t in the starting lineup as a hitter. Blazers head coach Lynsi Polanco told her early in the game that she would get an at bat at some point in the game.
Mayr only got one at bat, and she made the most of it.
On a 3-2 pitch with two runners on base in a 10-0 game, Mayr barreled up a pitch right down the middle and sent it over the fence in left center field for her first high school home run in the fourth inning. Her teammates chanted, “She’s a freshman,” as she returned to the dugout.
“I saw a lot of outside pitches, and I was ready for that and I got it,” Mayr said. “It was pretty cool.”
Polanco said the freshman hits dingers in practice “all the time,” and Mayr’s big fly Monday made her rethink her decision to bring her off the bench.
“The fact that she made me feel like I should have had her in the whole time, there’s a little bit of regret there,” Polanco said with a laugh. “That probably won’t happen again.”
Other Blazers outside of Haagen, who has been white hot at the plate this season, needed to step up as Bellarmine only threw her one pitch. On that one pitch, she ripped the ball down the third-base line for a two-run double to open the scoring in the first inning. The Lions never pitched to her again, walking her intentionally the next two times she stepped up to the plate.
Not a bad decision to avoid pitching to a Division I commit batting .677 for the season and coming off of a five-game home run streak. She was visibly miffed by receiving the Barry Bonds treatment, but Polanco believes it’s a sign of respect for the level at which she is playing.
“I tell Nevaeh all the time that I’ve never seen somebody hit the ball as far as she does. She’s just a freak of nature,” Polanco said of Haagen. “I joke with her that I hope she gets an NIL deal when she goes to school and sends me a pallet of softballs because that’s what she owes me. There are so many balls in those woods out there. She’s a menace when she steps on the field. I’ve had some girls that could hit the ball, but not like she can.”
Timberline got the help it needed all over the lineup. The first three Blazers walked in the first inning to set up Haagen’s two-run double out of the cleanup spot, and Leilani Palacios brought a runner home on a sacrifice groundout. Haagen caught the Lions sleeping and raced from third to home while Bellarmine was preparing for the next at bat, giving Timberline a 4-0 lead through one.
Kayleese Dorfner’s RBI single in the second made it 5-0 Blazers, Leovi Meno-Meyers came home on a passed ball, and Palacios sacrificed another at bat to score Dorfner and cap off a three-run second frame. Timberline then wrapped up the game with a seven-run fourth inning, highlighted by Mayr’s three-run bomb and an RBI single by Meno-Meyers.
In the circle, Haagen and Miller threw what could be described as a backdoor perfect game, as an error by Miller on the first at bat of the game put a baserunner on for Bellarmine, and the Lions never had another. Haagen retired the next nine batters, including six via strikeout, and Miller relieved her in the fourth to retire the final six Lions.
“It was a five-inning game, but as we start getting more into the postseason and playing longer games against better teams, I can’t just have everything on Nevaeh,” Polanco said. “We’ve got to be able to combine [Haagen and Miller]. They’re two totally different pitchers. To be able to go back and forth between them is to our advantage.”
Meno-Meyers went 2 for 2 at the plate with an RBI, two walks and three runs scored, while Dorfner finished 2 for 3 with an RBI, three runs and a walk. Palacios and Mayr each drove in three runs.
Mayr is playing valuable innings as a freshman for a Timberline team loaded with veterans and postseason aspirations. She's tied for fourth on the team with 12 RBIs, and she's tied for third in walks with nine. Mayr is also adapting admirably to playing first base for the first time, as she typically plays catcher and outfielder.
“I feel happy and honored to be doing this as a freshman,” Mayr said. “It’s not usually like this, so it's pretty cool.”
Timberline (10-2, 10-0 Puget Sound League) remains unbeaten in PSL play and will look to keep it that way when River Ridge (5-7, 5-5 PSL) comes to Timberline Wednesday afternoon.
