3a bi-district softball: River, Prairie have tough challenge

The good news for the Columbia River and Prairie softball teams is that their seasons didn’t end on Friday.

The bad news for them is that only one — if either — will make it to the 3A state tournament.

Both the Chieftains and Falcons fell in quarterfinals games at the 3A bi-district tournament at Sprinker Fields in Tacoma.

Central Kitsap beat Columbia River 6-2, while Prairie fell to Enumclaw 4-3.

That dropped them into the same quarter on the loser-out side of the bracket.

Prairie will play Lincoln while Columbia River faces Peninsula, both at 9 a.m. today. Winners of those games play each other in a loser-out/winner-to-state game at 1 p.m.

The survivor of the 1 p.m. game plays again at 3 p.m. for fifth place.

In the opening round, Prairie knocked off Shelton 14-2. No details were reported.

Columbia River came back to beat Kennedy Catholic 11-10 thanks to a five-run sixth inning.

Down 9-6 and with two outs, Gabby Collins hit an RBI double, Lindsay MacNeil hit a two-run single, and Andrea Hoey had a run-scoring single to rally the Chieftains.

MacNeil was 3 for 4 with a two-run home run and four RBI in the game.

Against Central Kitsap, Columbia River had seven hits but stranded six base runners.