The day before, they folded.

When it mattered most, they didn’t crack.

One day after a lackluster loss in the district semifinals sent them to an elimination game, the Aberdeen Bobcats fought through adversity to defeat W.F. West 8-7 at the 2A District 4 Tournament on Friday in Chehalis, earning a trip to the state tournament in the process.

Aberdeen (14-8 overall) got right to work in the bottom of the first inning when Aili Scott led off with a walk and scored on a double by Laynie Yakovich, with Yakovich advancing to third on the throw in from the outfield. Alyssa Yakovich drove in her sister with a fielder’s choice RBI groundout for a 2-0 lead just thee batters into the game.

Aberdeen starting pitcher Lilly Camp ran into trouble in the top of the second when the Bearcats (16-9) loaded the bases with three straight singles. But Camp struck out Chase White and Izzy Vigre and got Lena Fragner to pop out in foul territory to keep W.F. West off the scoreboard.

The Bearcats would tie the game with a pair of runs on a Fragner single with one out in the top of the fourth and took the lead when Fragner came in to score on a Staysha Fluetsch sacrifice fly.

But in stark contrast to the previous day’s 7-2 semifinal loss to Centralia, the Bobcats didn’t fold when things didn’t go their way, they responded instead.

With two on and one out in the bottom of the fifth, Aberdeen tied the game at 3-all on a Scotlyn Lecomte single and took a 6-3 lead on a Maddie Gore two-run double followed by a run-scoring single from Scott.

The Bobcats weren’t done yet as Camp made it a 7-3 game with a bases-loaded walk followed by a Britten Neal RBI sac fly for an 8-3 lead heading to the fifth inning.

In the top of the seventh, the W.F. West offense – which put up 25 runs in a district win over Woodland on Friday – began to barrel up Camp’s pitches.

A single followed by back-to-back doubles made it an 8-6 game and was followed by an Etter single to score Fragner, trimming Aberdeen’s lead to 8-7 with the tying run on third base after a throwing error.

Aberdeen didn’t wilt under the pressure.

Camp struck out Avalon Myers looking on four pitches for the second out.

Fluetsch stepped to the plate with the game on the line and hit the first pitch she saw on a line toward the hole between first and second base on what appeared to be a game-tying single.

Gore had other ideas, leaping to her right to snare the liner, ending the game and W.F. West’s season while securing a spot for the Bobcats in the state playoffs.

“That shows her instinct and speed,” Aberdeen head coach Jimmy McDaniel said of Gore. “That ball was hit hard. … It was screaming. … You could hear it hit her glove and when she was on the ground, I was staring at the glove to make sure she made the catch.”

The Bobcats converged on Gore at first in celebration in an emotional and jubilant scene.

“That moment was theirs,” McDaniel said. “I sat and enjoyed every moment of those girls running out on the field with each other and the celebration. Having the opportunity to watch them celebrate that game-winning catch and know what they just did, moving on to state, that was everything.”

McDaniel said his team was able to turn things around because his players “took it to heart” after failing to reach the district-title game on Friday.

“They seemed rejuvenated, and with the talk we had yesterday and leading into pre-game today, it was more along the lines of just going out and playing for each other, forget about yesterday. The only ask I had was play like it’s your last game and reset after every play,” he said. “I told them if we don’t get the right play or don’t get the hit, we can’t get down on ourselves or show any negative emotion to W.F. West because it feeds into them and they will grab it any chance they get. We have to show composure and high spirits on every single play.”

McDaniel said he could see a difference in his players during the Bearcats rally in the seventh.

“Yesterday, in those adverse situations, I told them I thought we folded,” he said. “Today, when we had a few dropped balls and some plays, they went after and didn’t get, but at the same time every player was congratulating that player on their effort. … W.F. West was gaining some momentum and the girls didn’t crack one bit.”

Aberdeen will open the 2A State Tournament on May 23 at Carlon Park in Selah.

W.F. West 000 301 3 – 7 15 0

Aberdeen 200 060 0 – 8 7 5

WP: Camp (7 IP, 7 R, 5 ER, 15 H, 2 BB, 6 K). LP: Young (4.2 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 H, 3 BB).

Leading hitters: WFW – Etter (3-5, 2B, R, RBI); Fragner (2-4, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI); Myers (2-4); Gray (2-4, 2B, R); White (2-4, R); Vigre (1-4, 2 R); Corey (1-1, 2B); Brindle (1-4); Hawkins (1-4). Aberdeen – L. Yakovich (2-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI); Gore (1-2, 2B, R, 2 RBI); Scott (1-3, 2 R, RBI); A. Yakovich (1-3, RBI); Patrick (1-3, R); Lecomte (1-2, R, RBI).

2A District 4 Tournament scores

Championship game: Ridgefield 5, Centralia 2

Elimination game: RA Long 1, Tumwater 0