LACEY — The Bainbridge fastpitch team made school history by reaching the 3A state title game for the third year in a row.
But like last year, the Spartans were set down in the title game by a strong pitcher in Juanita hurler Allie Rhodes, as the Rebels won its first fastpitch title in school history with a 6-1 win Saturday at the RAC in Lacey.
Bainbridge could only score one run off Rhodes in the sixth inning when Hailey Willmann reached on an error, then was driven in by a Erin Kinney triple.
Despite Rhodes striking out 10, the Spartans were able to score a run. In the district semifinals, she had struck out 17 Spartan batters.
“She’s probably the best pitcher we’ve seen all year,” head coach Liz McCloskey said. “We knew we had to come out aggressive with our bats, keeping our hands on top and driving through the zone. We hit the ball — we had a lot of ground ball outs and we didn’t strike out 17 times, which is all I can ask for.”
To get there, the Spartans defeated Kelso 4-2 in the semifinal game as Clara Dunn drove in Cali Moore with the go ahead run in the fifth. While Moore drove in Kinney with a base hit, Raben did the rest by keeping the Hilanders from scoring.
Raben said they didn’t have too many problems with the 9 a.m. start time.
“We just bonded on the bus (to the game),” she said. “Everyone kept the energy up — that’s the thing with us (is) that we keep the energy up, pick each other up and help each other out.”
Though the Spartans lost, McCormick, who with Dunn becomes the first players to make it to state all four years in their time at Bainbridge, can be happy with what they have done.
“It’s huge,” she said. “No one thought we’d get this far at all (this season).”
For next year, the Spartans lose McCormick (who is moving on to play at Lewis and Clark state) and Dunn (who is off to Gonzaga) but Raben feels they can make it six straight state qualifications next season.
“We’re a pretty young team – as everyone likes to point out – but we have people who are ready to step up and fill those spots,” she said.
Bainbridge finishes with a record of 22-7.
