Lady Cruisers Clinch State Berth

The SPSL league champion Cruisers, would open up the 2019 West Central District 3 tournament with a bye after earning the #1 seed. They would face the Sequim Wolves after the Wolves took down the River Ridge Hawks 11-0.

The Wolves would jump out to an early lead thanks to a pair of home runs in the 2^nd and 3^rd innings and could never really recover. The Cruisers would pick up a couple of runs, but that would be all they could muster and they would crop the game by a score of 7-2. This would drop them into the loser bracket of the double elimination tournament. Next up, they would face Steilacoom.

Summary: Sequim 7 Eatonville 2 – LP: H. Olson (7IP, 7R, 14H, 2BB, 1K) H. Rath 2-3, HR, 1R, 1RBI / D. Smith 1-1, 2B, 1R / A. Hedrick 1-3, 1RBI

The Cruisers would jump out on the Sentinels by 5 runs as the entered the bottom of the 3^rd. Steilacoom would counter with 6 runs of their own to take a 6-5 lead. Eatonville would grab the lead back in the 5^th inning and wouldn’t look back. They would add 5 more runs in the 6^th and 2 more in the 7^th to take the win 15-7.

Brooklynn Lucht and Haley Rath would lead the Cruisers. They would both hit home runs in the game. Lucht would add a triple and Rath a double.

Summary: Eatonville 15 Steilacoom 7 – WP: H. Olson (7IP, 7R, 13H, 0BB, 3K) H. Rath 4-5, HR, 2B, 2R, 6RBI / B. Lucht 4-5, HR, 3B, 3R, 3RBI / A. Hedrick 4-5, 1RBI / D. Smith 3-5, 2B(2), 1R, 1RBI / S. Coleman 3-1, 3R, 1RBI / M. Miller 2-3, 2R, 2RBI / K. Rath 1-5, 1R, 1RBI / B. Porter 1-5, 1R / M. Chabot 1-5

That win would pit the Cruisers against the Franklin Pierce Cardinals. The winner of hat game would clinch a spot in the state tournament.

Berkley Porter would drive in 3 for the Lady Cruisers as they cruised to a 10-1 win over the Cardinals. Porter would pick up 2 doubles on the day.

Summary: Eatonville 10 Franklin Pierce 1 – WP: H. Olson (7IP, 1R, 3H, 0BB, 6K) B. Porter 2-3, 2B(2), 1R, 3RBI / H. Rath 2-3, 2B, 3R, 2RBI / A. Hedrick 3-4 / M. Chabot 2-4, 2R, 1RBI / S. Coleman 2-4, 1R / K. Rath 1-3, 1RBI / M. Miller 1-3, 1R

That win over Franklin Pierce would put the Cruisers in the game to pay for the #5 or #6 seed into the state tournament. They would face the White River Hornets who they have beaten twice already this season. This game would be no different.

The Hornets would strike first with a run in the bottom of the opening inning, but the Cruisers would counter back in the top of the 2^nd with 5 runs of their own.

Kaitlyn Rath would hit a grand slam for the Cruisers in the fourth inning as they put the game away and would take the eventual win by a score of 13-3. With that win the Cruisers have clinched the #5 seed into the state tournament in Selah, WA. The tournament takes place May 24^th at Carlon Park. The Cruisers will face the Greater St. Helens league and Southwest District 4 champs the Woodland Beavers (22-0) at 12:00 pm.

Summary: Eatonville 13 White River 3 – WP: B. Porter (5IP, 3R, 5H, 0BB, 5K) K. Rath 2-3, 2R, 4RBI / M. Chabot 3-3, 2B(2), 3R, 3RBI / B. Porter 2-4, 2B, 2RBI / H. Rath 2-3, 2B(2), 3R / B. Lucht 1-4, 1R, 2RBI / D. Smith 1-1, 2R / A. Hedrick 1-3, 1RBI