OLYMPIA — Describing the Olympia Bears’ 2026 season as a whirlwind may not fully grasp what kind of a spring it’s been for the program.
Olympia, two years removed from a 21-win campaign and a seventh-place finish at state, started 1-5 in 2026. The Bears, who graduated three First Team All-South Puget Sound League South stars from a season ago, were forced to vault young players into new significant roles while going toe to toe with experienced teams like Peninsula, Enumclaw, Yelm and Graham-Kapowsin.
It’s been a season of crazy comebacks, blowout wins and losses, and even a stretch of five games in five days. But the Bears won enough games to earn a spot in the SPSL Tournament, and with their season on the line, they knocked out South Kitsap 8-3 Tuesday at Stevens Field to clinch a bid into the District 3/4 4A Tournament.
The Bears stayed true to their coaches’ steady message through all of the ups and downs: just keep fighting.
“It’s a failure sport, and you’ve just got to keep fighting. You’re gonna learn from your failures. That’s how you get growth, and this team has been really good at that,” Olympia assistant coach Rick Crawford said.
Two of the Bears’ catalysts in the postseason victory over the Wolves were Sydney and Sydnee. That is, Sydney Potvin and Sydnee Chandler-Trent.
Potvin blasted her fifth home run of the season in the third inning, and Chandler-Trent pitched her second complete game of the season, working out of several hairy situations to keep Olympia in front all day.
But it was Ashlynn Carey who put the Bears on top first. With two outs in the bottom of the first and runners at second and third, Carey popped the ball up inside the infield, and a routine play that should have ended the inning turned into a dropped catch and two runs across home plate.
After working through two perfect innings to start the game, Chandler-Trent was tested by South Kitsap in the third inning. Three of the first four batters she faced singled to load the bases, and she earned a flyout to keep all the runners put and to secure the second out. A bases-loaded walk allowed a run to score, but Chandler-Trent prevented any further damage by pitching into a flyout to left field to end the inning.
Potvin stepped up to the plate in a 2-1 game in the third inning, “Pacific Coast Highway” by The Hip Abduction and Trevor Hall playing on the PA system. It’s more than a tune she likes; it’s a symbol of her improved approach at the plate.
“I’m just really focusing on my form right now. I’m not really worried about the result,” Potvin said. “I try to make it as simple as possible because I know that I think too much. See ball, hit ball. Track and attack. I was struggling for about the past year, just thinking too much and putting too much pressure on myself. Trusting myself and living in the moment is a really big deal, and so I take a look at the trees and the sky and find something to calm me down. My walk-up song is very flowy and beachy, and that’s just to calm me down and keep me in the moment.”
Potvin delivered in the moment, blistering a solo homer over the left-field fence. She hooked the ball so far left that she slowed down as she neared first base, making sure the ball was fair. A bunch of South Kitsap fans called for a foul ball before the umpire at third base signaled a home run.
Chandler-Trent bounced back with a 1-2-3 fourth inning, and Abby Crawford gave her some run support with a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to put Oly ahead 4-1. On the very next at bat, Potvin wasn’t given her chance to calm herself, as South Kitsap chose to intentionally walk her. With two on and two out, Sam Graham poked the ball over the second baseman’s head to bring Crawford home.
South Kitsap’s Xavannah Johnson hit a solo home run on an 0-2 pitch in the fifth off of Chandler-Trent, but the right-handed pitcher stranded a runner to keep a three-run lead.
The Wolves took a chance on pitching to Potvin with two runners on and one out in the bottom of the sixth, and she made them pay, lining an RBI double to the gap in left-center field.
Graham added her second RBI of the day on a sacrifice groundout, and Carey drove in Potvin with an RBI single.
South Kitsap could only snag one run in the top of the seventh as Chandler-Trent finished off her second complete game of the season, both of which were against the Wolves. It’s been an impressive season for the senior, who missed all of last season after suffering a torn Achilles in the jamboree at the very start of her junior campaign.
“She’s grit. That’s all that kid is,” Rick Crawford said. “We didn’t even know if she was going to be able to pitch this season. She came back, and she was slow at the beginning of the season. You could tell it was still bothering her, but she still showed up. She’s starting to get her feet under her, and she’s starting to be confident in herself again. When she’s out there, she’s been our most consistent pitcher.”
Olympia (8-13, 8-9 SPSL) is back in the district tournament for the sixth consecutive season in which a tournament was held. The Bears, once wide-eyed and inexperienced, have the expertise of running through the SPSL gauntlet to back them up in the postseason.
“I think we can do a lot of damage,” Potvin said. “I think if we can bring that intensity and that energy out, we can definitely take down some really good teams.”
The district tournament begins Friday, May 15.
