Prairie softball takes positives from quick exit at state

LACEY — As the sudden end of season goes, dropping your final two games is never the finale of choice.

But Prairie got a congratulatory and honest assessment from its head coach Mariah Dawson after dropping both games at the state tournament.

“She told us we had a good season, we just beat ourselves,” Senior Clarissa Martinez said. “She’s always been honest with us. She’ll tell the truth, she’ll never lie and she didn’t sugar coat it.”

Perhaps that helped the Falcons keep spirits high throughout both games at Regional Athletic Complex on Friday, first a 6-2 loss to Marysville-Pilchuck, then a back and forth 9-5 defeat at the hands — err, bats — of Kamiakin.

After all, it’s the 3A state tournament.

And at a point in the not-so-distance past, it took a triumphant bi-district performance for Prairie to get there.

If the Falcons weren’t going to meet their goal of making it to the second day of state, they sure were going to make themselves heard — and have fun doing it.

That was the case on the bus early Friday morning as the team drove up to Lacey and shuffled through its usual gameday playlist to get pumped up for competition.

As ritual goes, the song the team sings the loudest to is perhaps the most mellow in tune — the 1959 Paul Anka ballad “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” What started at the beginning of the season as a song only a few girls knew the words to turned into a team-wide, lyrical recital complete with dancing, players said.

“I don’t know why, it’s not a pump-up song,” senior Kailey St. Peter said.” We just dance to it and sing as loud of we can.”

Added Hailey St. Peter, her sister: “We think it’s so funny.”

The pregame routine was business as usual, but when the games started, the team felt like they didn’t start right.

“We just came into the first and second game not 100 percent so that’s really tough,” Martinez said.

Marysville got two runners on early in the first, then got on the board when Chloe Morgan stole home. On the next at-bat, Sydney Zachry scored another on a single to right field and the Tomahawks took a 2-0 lead.

Prairie scored one in the third on a Martinez solo home run, but Marysville added three more in the fourth and held on.

The latter contest Prairie held a commanding lead.

Kailey St. Peter hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to help the Falcons up to a 5-3 lead after five. The senior said she saw the pitch come in a bit outside, and sent it decidedly over the fence.

“Perfect,” Kailey St. Peter said. “It felt so nice. Good way to end the season.”

But Kamiakin scored six runs — four in the fourth — and held the Falcons bats from there on out.

The team gave up four errors it would soon like to forget — a staple, Martinez said, in the valleys of its at times up-and-down season.

“Errors have killed us all season long,” Martinez said. “Games that we should have won, we didn’t. It was a good game, but errors will keep happening and that’s where teams will take advantage of it.”

The negatives, however, did not stop Prairie from supporting each other with coordinated chants and cheers. As the Falcons trailed 5-1 in the fourth inning of the first game, junior Ashley Shelton spoke up in a crowded dugout as the team batted. “I only hear a couple people yelling,” she said. “We have to get louder.”

That type of teamwork is why Kailey and Hailey St. Peter say they associated their favorite softball memories with Prairie. The twins, who will play next year at Highline Community College in Federal Way, moved to Vancouver from Lockhart, Texas in 2013.

“Since we’ve been in high school these girls haven’t just been a team, they’ve kind of become our family,” Hailey St. Peter said.

3A STATE TOURNAMENT
At Regional Athletic Complex
Lacey, Wash.
MARYSVILLE-PILCHUCK 6, PRAIRIE 2
Marysv. 200 310 0 — 6 11 0
Prairie 001 000 1 — 2 7 1
Marysville-Pilchuck
Pitching — McKenzie Justice 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Highlights — Chloe Morgan 3-4, RBI, R; Sydney Zachry 2-4, RBI, 2B; Alissa Edge 3-3, R, RBI; Kelsey Edge 2-3, RBI.
Prairie
Pitching — Olivia Meyers 7.0 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Highlights — Clarissa Martinez 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, HR; Hailey St. Peter 2-3, R; Chloe McDaniel 1-3, Ashley Shelton 1-3.

KAMIAKIN 9, PRAIRIE 5
Prairie 101 210 0 — 5 11 4
Kamkn. 120 024 x — 9 11 2
Prairie
Pitching — Olivia Meyers 4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; Madison Graham 1.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Highlights — Kailey St. Peter 1-3, 2 RBI, R, HR; Kylee Snider 2-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B; Clarissa Martinez 2-4, 2 R; Ashley Shelton 1-3, R; Chloe McDaniel 1-2.
Kamiakin
Pitching — Hannah Jablonski 7.0 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Highlights — Kennedy Dyck 2-3, Lexi Brown 2-2, R, RBI; Macy Christianson 1-2, 2 R; Hannah Jablonski 1-4, RBI.