The talk among some detractors of the Aberdeen softball team was the Bobcats were one-hit wonders.

Last season’s fourth-place finish in the state tournament was a one-off and the program would return to obscurity, failing to get out of a tough 2A District Tournament this season.

On Thursday, Aberdeen went double-platinum.

Putting together two of its best performances of the season, the Bobcats earned a second-consecutive trip to the 2A State Tournament and a spot in Friday’s district-championship game.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano junior Lilly Camp allowed one earned run in a 16-3 win over defending-district champion Ridgefield in a 2A District 4 Tournament first-round game on Thursday in Chehalis.

2A District 4 Tournament

Quarterfinals

Aberdeen 16, Ridgefield 3

Aberdeen hammered defending district-champion Ridgefield with a 16-3 five-inning victory in a district-quarterfinal matchup Thursday afternoon at Recreation Park in Chehalis.

Aberdeen (17-5 overall) jumped on Ridgefield pitcher Faith Smith early, scoring three runs in the top of the first on RBI singles by pitcher Lilly Camp and catcher Alyssa Yakovich followed by a run on an error for a 3-0 lead.

The Bobcats added a run apiece in the second and third innings on run-scoring singles from Camp and left fielder Shyanna Patrick, respectively, to take a 4-0 lead after three innings of play.

Aberdeen blew the game wide open in the fourth, scoring six runs on six singles and a two-run home run over the left-field fence by Patrick to take a commanding 11-0 lead.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen center fielder Laynie Yakovich (3) takes a lead while Ridgefield first baseman Faith Smith looks on during the Bobcats’ 16-3 win in the 2A District 4 Tournament game on Thursday in Chehalis.

The Bobcats added five runs in the fifth capped by RBI singles by third baseman Britten Neal and second baseman Kadence Braaten to go up 16-3.

Camp picked up the win, allowing three runs – one earned – on six hits without surrendering a walk and striking out eight in five innings pitched.

Laynie Yakovich and Camp went a combined 8-for-8 with five runs scored to lead the Bobcats.

Neal added three hits and scored three runs for an Aberdeen offense that made contact, recording 19 hits as a team without drawing a walk and striking out twice.

Aberdeen 311 65 – 16 19 2

Ridgefield 000 30 – 3 6 3

WP: Camp (5 IP, 3R, ER, 6H, 8K). LP: Smith (3.1 IP, 9R, 7ER, 12H, K).

Leading hitters: Aberdeen – L. Yakovich (4-4, 4R); Camp (4-4, 2B, R, RBI); Neal (3-4, 3R, 2RBI); Patrick (2-3, HR, R, 3RBI); Vessey (2-5); Hollingsworth (1-4, 2R); A. Yakovich (1-4, R, 2RBI); Lecomte (1-3, 2R, 2RBI); Braaten (1-1, RBI). Ridgefield – Peery (2-3, 2B, R, RBI); Bowling (2-3, R, RBI); Vancleave (1-3, R); Harris (1-2, RBI).

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen catcher Alyssa Yakovich (left) throws out a runner while third baseman Britten Neal looks on during the Bobcats’ 5-4 win over Tumwater in a 2A District 4 semifinal game on Thursday in Chehalis.

Semifinals

Aberdeen 5, Tumwater 4

With a potential spot in the state playoffs and a berth in the District 4 title game on the line, Aberdeen shined.

The Bobcats recovered from losing a three-run lead to clutch-up late in the game for a memorable 5-4 win over Tumwater in the district semifinals on Thursday evening.

Aberdeen (18-5) trailed 1-0 after Tumwater’s Erika Schock drove in a run off a two-out single against Bobcats starting pitcher Annika Hollingsworth.

With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the third, Cats catcher Alyssa Yakovich stepped to the plate and lined Tumwater pitcher Ella Ferguson’s 1-2 pitch to the left-centerfield gap, allowing Rylee Hendrickson and older sister Laynie Yakovich to score.

The throw into third skipped off a T-Birds player’s glove and rolled past the third-base line and behind the plate. Aberdeen first baseman Lilly Camp, who went from first to third on Yakovich’s double, raced home to score Aberdeen’s third run.

The Bobcats added a run with three straight two-out singles by Hendrickson, shortstop Zoe Vessey and Hollingsworth. Hendrickson came in to score on Hollingsworth’s grounder down the first-base line for a 4-1 lead.

But an Aberdeen defense that had avoided mistakes to that point, made some costly ones in the top of the sixth inning.

Hollingsworth got leadoff hitter Megan Barrett to hit a grounder to Kadence Braaten at second base, but the junior infielder couldn’t field an in-between hop cleanly, allowing Barrett to reach on an error.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen senior Annika Hollingsworth earned a complete-game victory in the Bobcats’ 5-4 win over Tumwater in a 2A District 4 semifinal game on Thursday in Chehalis.

Schock followed with a single, putting runners on first and second with no outs.

Miscommunication on a Ferguson bunt between Hollingsworth and Camp gave the T-Birds (17-5) a golden opportunity to climb back into the game, and they did just that.

T-Birds junior Jaime Haas then singled to left to pull Tumwater to within two runs at 4-2.

Tumwater’s Sarah Stevens followed with a ground ball to Britten Neal at third, who threw to catcher Alyssa Yakovich for the first out of the inning.

The T-Birds got the clutch hit they were looking for when Marissa LaPraim lined a single to Scotlyn Lecomte in right field, allowing two runs to score as Tumwater had new life with the game tied at 4-4.

With Stevens standing on third as the potential go-ahead run, Hollingsworth got Zoe Fields to pop out to Braaten at second then struck out Megan Paull to end the inning.

Rather than wilt under the pressure, the Bobcats thrived.

With one out and none on in the bottom of the sixth, Vessey singled and advanced to second on a Hollingsworth ground out.

Enter the red-hot Laynie Yakovich with the go-ahead run on second and two outs.

The standout senior center fielder wasted no time, lining the first pitch she saw from Ferguson down the third base line. The ball deflected off LaPraim’s outstretched glove and rolled back behind third base and into foul territory.

Vessey, who read the play from the get-go, got a huge jump and never hesitated, racing around third and sliding into home ahead of the throw to give Aberdeen a 5-4 lead as a roar went up from the Bobcats faithful.

“I knew (Ferguson) was pitching me outside the whole time, so I just went with that and assumed it was going to be outside. I hit it on the outside half and it went right over the third baseman. I just expected outside,” Laynie Yakovich said of her approach in the pressure-packed at-bat. “I was super excited and so hyped because I knew it was something we really needed in that moment.”

Hollingsworth took the one-run lead into the bottom of the seventh and would not be denied, inducing two fly outs to Lecomte in right and a ground out by Schock to Vessey at short to end the game, setting off an Aberdeen victory celebration near the circle.

Hollingsworth went the full seven innings, allowing four runs – three earned – on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts against a good-hitting Tumwater team.

Hollingsworth also had three hits to lead Aberdeen, as did Alyssa Yakovich, who also drove in three runs in the game for a Bobcats team that had 11 hits off Ferguson.

“The goal against Ella was to take her deep into counts. Fight off the stuff we don’t like and we wanted to dictate her pace,” Aberdeen head coach Jimmy McDaniel said. “She is a dominant pitcher and she dictates the pace of a lot of her games and we wanted to dictate the pace.”

Tumwater 001 003 0 – 4 6 0

Aberdeen 003 101 x – 5 11 1

WP: Hollingsworth (7 IP, 4R, 3ER, 6H, BB, 6K). LP: Ferguson (6 IP, 5R, 5ER, 11H, 4BB, 8K).

Leading hitters: Tumwater – Schock (2-4, RBI); LaPraim (1-3, 2RBI); Ferguson (1-3, R); Haase (1-3, RBI); Fields (1-3).

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Laynie Yakovich smacks a base hit during a 5-4 win over Tumwater in a 2A District 4 semifinal game on Thursday in Chehalis.

Another date at state

With the win over Tumwater, Aberdeen advances to next week’s state tournament for the second-consecutive season.

Unlike last year however, the Bobcats don’t have to battle through elimination games as they’ll take on league foe W.F. West in the district-championship game at 6 p.m. Friday at Recreation Park in Chehalis.

“We’re going to state no matter what and I think beating Tumwater makes it that much better,” said Laynie Yakovich, who went 6-for-8 with five runs scored in the two district games.

Based on the WIAA’s RPI rankings, Aberdeen had the toughest draw of the tournament in facing No. 9 Ridgefield and No. 5 Tumwater, which beat the Bobcats two out of three meetings this season.

But Aberdeen’s offense had 31 hits combined in two games while the defense committed just three errors. Those numbers, combined with arguably the best starting pitching duo in the 2A class in Camp and Hollingsworth, is a good formula for success.

“I knew coming in here we were going to be playing some tough teams and offensively we’ve been having our ups and downs,” said Alyssa Yakovich, who went 4-for-8 with five RBI on Thursday. “I knew being aggressive as a team that we could beat any team we may have lost to in the past.”

According to head coach Jimmy McDaniel, Aberdeen learned much from last week’s 3-2 loss to Montesano, and those lessons learned translated to his players.

“Since the Monte loss, the emphasis was cleaning up our mistakes from that game. We based our prep work off of that game because that game showed our weaknesses and flaws,” he said. “We reviewed everything and really tried to rally the girls behind each other and that they supported each other 100%.”

McMillan said the execution the Bobcats lacked in the latter stages of the Monte loss was present in Thursday’s victories.

“We took it one pitch at a time, one base at a time. Play the game that was in front of you and the focus was on the game in front of you,” he said. “We just had to reiterate all the basics that we were slipping on a little bit. … That loss opened their eyes. … You could tell a difference at practice. The focus was there.”

“At practice, we really worked on being selective and fine-tuning things,” Alyssa Yakovich said. “Working on them over and over and getting the repetition.”

That went for the vaunted and accomplished pitching staff as well.

“My spins were flat against Monte and I had to work on that a lot,” said Hollingsworth, who added a majority of the team was sick with an illness at the beginning of the week. “(Camp and I) were both sick at the beginning of the week. So coming in and dominating was our goal. … I’m just glad we came out and executed those pitches.”

“The ideal goal was make it through districts and go 2-0 and punch our ticket immediately,” McDaniel said. “I’m very proud. Just making it back and proving it wasn’t a one-shot deal, we’re not a one-hit wonder. … Aberdeen is not known to make it through districts and we’re proving everyone that doubts us wrong.”

Other scores

Quarterfinals

Tumwater 14, Woodland 4

W.F. West 12, Columbia River 4

Rochester 6, Mark Morris 3

Semifinals

W.F. West 6, Rochester 1

Elimination Round

Ridgefield 16, Woodland 3

Mark Morris 14, Columbia River 3