The Hoquiam Grizzlies were oh so close.
Hoquiam held a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning, but Eatonville rallied to hand the Grizzlies a 5-3 loss in the 1A District 4 championship game on Saturday at Fort Borst Park in Centralia.
In a tight game where every move and miscue was magnified, it was Eatonville (20-3 overall) that struck first.
Brooke Blocker led off the game with a double and later came around to score on a Dakota Smith single.
The Cruisers went up 2-0 when Sara Smith drove in Hailey Rath with a two-out single off Hoquiam pitcher Carron Blood.
In the bottom of the second, Hoquiam (13-9) took the lead on a clutch base knock from one of its senior leaders.
Hoquaim’s Kayte Sauer reached on an error followed by a walk to Avery Howard to open the inning, chasing Eatonville starter Berkeley Porter from the circle.
Cruisers reliever Sara Smith got Macy Dhooghe to ground into a fielder’s choice followed by a strikeout to Blood.
Hoquiam shortstop Graci Bonney-Spradlin followed with a single to load the bases with two out.
Grizzlies second baseman Ella Folkers then stepped to the plate and raked a double off the center-field fence, scoring Bonney-Spradlin, Howard and Dhooghe to put the Grizzlies up 3-2 and set off a huge roar from the Hoquiam faithful.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam second baseman Ella Folkers cheers on her teammates after belting a bases-clearing three-run double to give the Grizzlies a 3-2 lead in the second inning of the 1A District 4 championship game on Saturday in Centralia.
Hoquiam had an opportunity to extend its lead in the bottom of the fourth when Folkers singled with one on and two outs, bringing the power hitting Blood to the plate with the speedsters Bonney-Spradlin and Folkers on second and first, respectively.
But Blood never got the chance to drive them in as Bonney-Spradlin was gunned down at third on an attempted double steal to end the threat.
In another insurance-run opportunity that fell by the wayside for the Grizzlies, Blood led off the fifth with a double to left, but was left stranded at second as Sara Smith got Faith Prosch on a line out followed by two consecutive groundouts by Ashlinn Cady and Sauer.
Meanwhile, Blood and the Hoquiam defense was doing its best to preserve the slim lead, keeping the heavy-hitting Cruisers in the park and making the plays in front of them.
Blood worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth by getting Dakota Smith on a pop-up back to the pitching circle and worked around a leadoff walk to toss a scoreless sixth.
In the seventh, Blood struck out Kyleigh Backlund to open the frame, putting Hoquiam just two outs away from a major upset and a district title.
Then one of those little plays that that gets magnified happened.
Blood got Brooke Blocker — who was a perfect 3-for-3 at that point — to hit a short pop fly in foul territory a few feet behind third base.
Bonney-Spradlin and third baseman Dhooghe were in the vicinity, but the ball fell harmlessly to the ground, keeping Blocker’s at-bat alive.
The Cruisers junior catcher caught a break, then caught Blood’s next pitch with the barrel of her bat, driving the ball to the center-field fence for a double.
Mary Chabot followed with a single and Rath, who has 16 home runs this season, was intentioally walked to load the bases.
Dakota Smith was then jammed but managed a bloop single to drive in Blocker with the tying run.
Porter then gave Eatonville a 4-3 lead with another jam-shot RBI bloop single.
Sara Smith drove in Rath with a sacrifice fly for the Cruisers’ third run of the inning and a 5-3 lead.
Blood got Charlie Smith to fly out to end the inning, but the damage had already been done.
“Those things happen and they took advantage of it,” Hoquiam head coach Keith Reynvaan said of Blocker’s foul pop up before addressing the two RBI bloop hits. “Carron threw two perfect pitches to two of their hitters and they got them right off the handle and right in front of our outfielders for base hits. Those just killed us, but that’s just softball.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Blood reached base to bring the tying run to the plate.
But Sara Smith got Faith Prosch on a pop out followed by a groundout by Cady to end the game and secure the district title for Eatonville.
“It was a great game. Both teams played really good defense and both pitcher’s threw really well,” Reynvaan said. “You have to give (Eatonville) credit. They were down and they came out and got the runners on and got the runners in.”
Folkers led the way for Hoquiam’s offense, going 2-for-3 with the double and three RBI while Blocker led the Cruisers with a perfect 4-for-4 game.
Blood took the loss, allowing five earned runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and four walks. The junior hurler allowed just two extra-base hits to an Eatonville team that has mashed 44 home runs as a team this season.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam pitcher Carron Blood threw a complete-game in a 5-3 loss in the 1A District 4 championship game on Saturday at Forst Borst Park in Centralia.
Hoquiam received a No. 7 seed in the 1A State Tournament and will face No. 10 Cashmere in a first-round elimination game at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Columbia Playfield in Richland.
Reynvaan said he talked with his team after the loss about playing a complete game against the teams at the state tournament.
“We talked about playing seven innings,” he said. “We played a really good six innings, but we gave (Eatonville) a break and they took advantage of it and you can’t do that to really good teams. And we’re going to face a lot of good teams in the state tournament.”
Eatonville 200 000 3 — 5 9 3
Hoquiam 030 000 0 — 3 5 1
Eatonville — Blocker (4-4, 2 2B, 2R), D. Smith (2-4), Chabot (1-4, R), S. Smith (1-3, 2RBI), Porter (1-3, RBI), Rath (0-1, 2R, 3BB). WP – S. Smith (6 IP, 2R, 0ER, 5H, 3K).
Hoquiam — Folkers (2-3, 2B, 3RBI), Bonney-Spradlin (1-4, R), Blood (1-4), Dhooghe (1-3, R). LP – Blood (7 IP, 5R, 5ER, 9H, 5K, 4BB).
