The Columbia River slowpitch softball team is on their way to state at Yakima after winning the 3A/2A district title on Friday at Heritage.
Evergreen will be joining the Rapids in Yakima, but both teams needed thrilling finishes to get there.
Columbia River (16-3), which opened with a 14-8 win over Evergreen, beat R.A. Long for the title 11-10 by holding off the Lumberjills last-inning rally.
The Rapids scored four runs in the sixth to take the lead at 11-9. Haylee Delano’s single tied the game at 9-9, and then Sydney Seibert-Wilder hit a two-out, two-run home run for an 11-9 advantage.
R.A. Long pushed one run across in the bottom of the seventh but left the game-tying run at second base.
In River’s two games, Aurora Wiley was 6 for 8 with a double, four home runs, nine RBI and scored five runs. Seibert-Wilder went 5 for 8, hitting for the cycle and knocking in four runs.
Evergreen (9-8) walked-off Mark Morris 12-10 to stay alive, and then held off R.A. Long 11-10 in the winner-to-state game.
Chloe Shove hit the game-winner for the Plainsmen to cap a six-run bottom of the seventh to beat Mark Morris.
Against R.A. Long, Evergreen scored nine runs over the final three innings for a 15-12 advantage. Delaney Bollman hit a three-run home run in the sixth to put the Plainsmen ahead 13-12, and Ashlyn Wolf had a two-run single in the seventh for some much-needed insurance runs.
R.A. Long scored twice in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly and a double but a fly-out ended the game.
The state tournament is Oct. 27-28 at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.
Columbia River’s Walburn wins 2A GSHL title
Columbia River sophomore Lucas Walburn dropped just three games on his way to the 2A Greater St. Helens League boys tennis singles title on Friday at Mint Valley in Longview.
Walburn, the top seed and a state qualifier last year, beat Fort Vancouver senior Andrew Walczyk 6-0, 6-1 in the final.
Walczyk, the No. 3 seed, had to battle his way into the final with a comeback win in his semifinal against Mark Morris senior Marco St. Martin-Shook, the No. 2 seed, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2.
Columbia River’s doubles team of Fuller Beyer and Trent Sarveia, both seniors and seeded third, won the district title over Washougal juniors Austin Mattern and Evan Elliott, the No. 4 seeds, 6-4, 6-2.
4A DISTRICT — Top seeds Aidan Bucerzan of Skyview and Rohan Thawani of Union will meet for the singles title at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Vancouver Tennis Center.
The doubles final will have Camas’ Aiden Brasier and Tommy James vs. teammates Nathan Chen and Kyle Wen.
3A DISTRICT — Top seeds William Goth of Evergreen and Micah Nelson of Prairie reach the singles final at Club Green Meadows.
There will be an all-Mountain View final in doubles. Jeffrey Tso and Brayden Haygood will play CJ Muraski and Jackson Taylor. Three of the four doubles semifinalists were from Mountain View.
Thomas of Heritage, Vazquez-Gonzalez of Evergreen win 3A GSHL cross country titles
Devyn Thomas of Heritage won the 3A Greater St. Helens League cross country title on Friday.
He finished the 2.95-mile course at Kelso High School in 15 minutes, 45.60 seconds. Dekota Houfek of Prairie was second in 15:56.41.
Evergreen’s Daniela Vazquez-Gonzalez won the girls race with a time of 18:54.56. She outdistanced Evergreen teammate Claire Rogge who finished in 19:46.14.
The Prairie boys and Mountain View girls won team titles. Prairie topped second-place Kelso 30-35, while Mountain View beat out Evergreen 47-62.
