CENTRALIA — In keeping with its dominating regular season, Pe Ell-Willapa Valley made a district softball title look easy.

Dakota Brooks pitched a five-inning no-hitter and helped her own cause with a three-run homer as PWV rolled to the District IV Class 2B championship with a 10-0 drubbing of Napavine on Saturday at Centralia’s Fort Borst Park.

The Titans (21-1) notched their first district championship as a combine, although Pe Ell had won previous district and state titles as a separate entity. Their lone loss this season was to newly crowned district 1A champion Montesano.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley clearly ranks as the team to beat when state opens Friday in Yakima. Incredibly, District IV teams have won the last nine 2B titles.

There was little doubt about Saturday’s outcome from the outset. Brooks opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the first inning. Abby Hodel, a member of the team’s Willapa Valley contingent, ended it with a walk-off solo homer in the fifth that instigated the 10-run mercy rule.

“I knew we had a good hitting team this year and I felt confident on defense,” PWV coach Ken Olson said. “But it’s got to start on the mound and Dakota has had it (so far).”

The hard-throwing Brooks simply overpowered the Tigers on Saturday. The senior right-hander struck out seven of the first 10 batters she faced and finished with nine whiffs.

Solana Sanchez, who walked to open the Napavine second inning, was the only Tiger baserunner.

Brooks took away the closest thing to a Tiger hit when she went up the ladder to snare Cortney Oster’s one-hopper back to the circle in the fifth inning.

Appropriately, Brooks provided some of her own support. Her first-inning drive, with Katie Adkins and Sid Pollard aboard, cleared the left-field fence by at least 15 feet.

The Titans batted around in a sixth-run third that included triples by Grace Hodel and Pollard. That set the stage for Abby Hodel’s game-ending homer.

Brooks drove in four runs and Katie Adkins added two RBIs for the winners.

Napavine 000 00 — 0 0 2

PWV 306 01 — 10 11 0

Music, Williams (4) and Oster; Brooks and G. Hodel.

RBI: PWV — Brooks 4, Katie Adkins 2, Kamryn Adkins, A. Hodel. Two hits: PWV — Pollard, Katie Adkins, Kamryn Adkins, A. Hodel. Home runs: PWV — Brooks, A. Hodel. Triples: PWV — Pollard, G. Hodel.

Winning pitcher — Brooks (walked none; struck out nine). Losing pitcher — Music (walked three; struck out two).