The games were much different but the results were the same Thursday for the Ridgefield softball team — a pair of losses in the Class 2A District tournament.
Aberdeen scored two runs in the seventh inning for a 3-1 victory over the Spudders, then Tumwater struck early for a 5-3 win that ended Ridgefield’s season.
“Things just didn’t go our way,” coach Ed Bate said. “Unfortunately, we dropped a couple games we could have won.”
In their opener of the double-elimination tournament at Fort Borst Park in Centralia, Bri Cunningham singled in Jenna Mayer in the bottom of the fifth to pull the Spudders into a 1-1 tie with Aberdeen.
It stayed that way until the top of the seventh, when an error, a double and an infield single resulted in two runs for Aberdeen. Shannon Boyle took the loss, despite striking out 11 with no walks.
In a loser-out game, Tumwater jumped on Ridgefield for three runs in the first and another in the second. The Spudders countered with three runs in the top of the third — including a two-run single by Boyle — but couldn’t get any closer.
Sam Rice went 4 for 7 on the day for Ridgefield, including 3 for 4 in the second game. But it wasn’t quite enough for the Spudders, champions of the 2A Greater St. Helens League.
“We kind of played our best softball right about the middle of the season,” Bate said. “We showed our youth; we were young up the middle.
“They tried. They gave it their best every time.”
