LACEY — The Mountain View Thunder are making some big noise in the 3A state softball tournament.
They defeated Juanita 10-5 in its opening round game, then outlasted the Snohomish Panthers 4-3 to make the semifinals for the first time since 2007.
Mountain View faces off against Yelm at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“That was one of our toughest games since we played Skyview in preseason,” head coach Ashleigh Byrne said. “It was nerve wracking. We made some errors that they took advantage of like we do with teams. Pulling it together was huge.”
Junior pitcher Sydney Brown was ecstatic after the game — especially after watching freshman right fielder Mary Fogg make a diving catch for the final out.
“It’s extremely good” we pulled off the win, she said. “It was a tough game at the end but my defense really came through, especially at the end.”
The Thunder came through with its offense in the first inning against the Panthers. Fogg drove in senior outfielder Saydee Christensen with a single, then Serena Fogg and Brown each drove in runs with sacrifice flies.
“It showed that we can do it and adjust to their pitching,” Byrne said. “We got it right away.”
The Panthers loaded the bases in its half of the first but could only get a run across on a passed ball. Brown got all three outs via strikeout.
Sophomore catcher Kinsey Martin added a big run with a solo home run in the second, a high arching shot that sailed over the left field fence.
That was all the Thunder could muster against starting pitcher Jordan Crawford as she shut them down the rest of the way.
Snohomish closed the gap to within one in the fifth inning as they scored two runs on an infield hit and an error when junior second baseman Maelyn Ocampo couldn’t hang onto a pop fly.
Brown credited senior co-captain Serena Fogg for calling time so everyone could get refocused.
“We as a team just needed to calm down, so I said this is our game. We’re still ahead,” Brown said. “We’ve been here before. So we just calmed down and took a breath and that really helped us.”
They also got help from a base running mistake by Anna Robinson, who ran too far down the third base line and was thrown out by Martin.
Mountain View loaded the bases with one out in its half of the fifth, but sophomore Tenley Winters hit into a double play. The Thunder got out of trouble in the sixth when they turned a double play of its own.
With the big plays turned in by the defense, Brown did the rest, striking out seven in the win. She also struck out 13 in the Thunder’s win against the Rebels.
“They’re coming together,” Byrne said. “They’ve got that team unity. Our team motto is T.E.A.M. — Together Everyone Achieves More — and they really feel like they’re doing that. It’s like a little sisterhood.”
Prairie hung tough on a long day to stay in contention for a trophy. They lost to Garfield 6-1 but rebounded to eliminate Edmonds-Woodway 9-2 and Lake Washington 4-0. They’ll play Snohomish at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“I was proud of my girls for hanging in there against Garfield and I was proud of our fight over the next two games,” co-head coach Mariah Dawson said. “It was the same way at districts.”
Rain rules at 4A
Skyview was one of the lucky ones at the 4A state softball tournament in Spokane.
The Storm beat Rogers of Puyallup 9-7 on Friday before rain washed out half of the first-round games.
Camas will play Henry Jackson at 8 a.m. Saturday and Battle Ground will face Chiawana at the same time in first-round games.
Skyview will face Lake Stevens in a quarterfinal game scheduled for noon.
