On April 20, Black Hills lost to Aberdeen by double-digits to fall to 0-10. Battling through injuries and constantly shifting their defensive alignment, the Wolves still had questions to answer, and they were running out of time to find the answers.
Two days later, the Wolves topped Centralia for their first win of the season.
The weeks since have not been perfect, but they have been better, and on Friday at Fort Borst Park, Black Hills defeated Centralia again 15-2 in a win-and-in matchup.
The win puts the Wolves through to the district pigtail game, while the loss eliminates the Tigers from postseason contention and ends their season.
“I’m so excited for the girls, they deserve it,” Black Hills coach Mike Vessey said. “We talked early on in the season about playing our best ball late in the season and improving every time, and we definitely did … I’m so proud of them.”
The Tigers got on the board first, when Maddalyn “MadDog” Rothdeutsch hit an RBI triple, but the Wolves didn’t take long to respond.
They scored seven runs in the top of the second, and all seven runs came with two outs.
Makenna Oderman tied the game with an RBI single, Emma Arko drew a walk to give Black Hills the lead, and Maddie Knight hit an RBI single of her own to make it 3-1.
Three batters scored on a Centralia error before Lily Shipe added another RBI knock to make it 7-1.
“We’ve been on the wrong side of 50/50 all year,” Vessey said. “We’ve been saying that at some point, our luck is gonna change a little bit.”
After a scoreless third, Black Hills continued to pull away in the fourth and fifth. The Wolves scored four more runs in both frames, highlighted by an RBI triple from Knight and an RBI double from Hannah O’Shurak on back-to-back at-bats in the fifth.
Oderman finished with three hits, an RBI, and she scored twice, while Knight ended the day with two hits and two RBIs. Lily Shipe, Tyler Venable, and O’Shurak each added two hits and an RBI.
O’Shurak also pitched all five innings, allowing just nine hits and two earned runs while walking two and striking out two.
Defensively, the Wolves were spectacular behind her. They didn’t commit a single error, and in the fourth, they turned a 5-3 double play to strand a Centralia runner in scoring position.
Vessey said that after Tyler Venable and Ava Wright returned from injuries and got more reps, they were able to settle into a set defensive lineup despite still missing star shortstop Kailey Miller, the Western Washington University commit who has missed the entire season with an injury.
“A couple of injuries forced us to change some things, and we got better,” Vessey said. “That took us a little while, but getting some improvement with our outfield and our at-bats has made a huge difference.”
It was a different story for the Tigers (5-14, 2-13 2A EvCo), who have ended their season with a 12-game losing streak after a 5-3 start. They turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the first, but the three-run error in the second was the first of four on the day.
Those four errors led to eight unearned runs, and the Tigers also walked eight Black Hills’ hitters.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Centralia coach David Orr said. “They’re a talented bunch of girls. They have their good days and they have their bad days, and today wasn’t one of their greatest.”
It was the final high school game for Brooklyn Sprague, Makenzie Erickson, McKenna Smith, and Rothdeutsch, but Orr noted that all four are committed to playing softball at the next level.
Erickson is set to play for Highline Community College, while Sprague, Smith, and Rothdeutsch are slated to play at Centralia College, following in the footsteps of former Tigers Makayla Chavez and Gracie Schofield.
“We had a bad day, but there will be a next year for everybody,” Orr said. “I’ve never been able to say that before. I still get to be a fan.
“Coming to practice and going to these games have been the best part of my day,” Orr continued. “Just a great group of girls to be around, and they’re all gonna be great people in our society. They’re all great kids.”
Black Hills (3-15, 3-12 2A EvCo) will now turn its attention to its pigtail game, which will be on Tuesday at R.A. Long, the GSHL’s No. 5 seed.
The Wolves also have non-league games scheduled against Rochester and Capital on Monday and Wednesday, but Vessey said those games may or may not happen with the pigtail now on the horizon.
If Black Hills wins the pigtail game, it will face Mark Morris, the GSHL’s No. 1 seed, in the district quarterfinals on Friday at Recreation Park.
“This district is loaded,” Vessey said. “I expect a battle, but I’m confident in the way they’re playing now. So let’s do it.”
