The Columbia River slowpitch softball team never lost faith Thursday in the District 4A 3A/2A championship game.
The Rapids didn’t lose faith when their eight-run lead over Kelso became a four-run lead.
Nor when it shrunk to three runs, then two, then one.
“I think we felt (the pressure) a little bit, but then we were like ‘hey we got this,’ ” junior Ruby Lew said. “We’re going to get it. … We could go on the field like ‘we got this. We can hold them.’”
Shortstop Hailee Corona fielded a sharp grounder and shoveled over to Haylee Delano at second base for a force out, clinching River’s 8-7 win over Kelso for a second straight district title.
“Honestly, it’s amazing to be two-time district champs,” senior Brooklyn Vickery said. “We went into this season and we did a really good job, especially adjusting to everything new. And I’m just really happy about it.”
Early on, the outcome did look like it would so intense.
Lew got River going with leadoff home run in the bottom of the second inning that slipped just over the fence and just inside the foul pole.
“I was a little worried,” Lew said. “Ohh, did that go over or not? Then I was like ‘Oh, thank gosh.’ … I was crossing my fingers secretly.”
The Rapids broke things open with a six-run third with Lew adding a three-run home run that was a no-doubter.
“The second one, I was like shocked,” Lew said. “I was like ‘oh my gosh. I just hit it over.’ ”
With an 8-0 lead and the bats firing, things looked well in hand for River after three innings.
But then Kelso fought back with a four-run fourth. And that was not unexpected.
“We knew from yesterday with the way they played against R.A. Long, they were just hitting bomb after bomb after bomb,” Vickery said. “So we were like ‘OK, we got to come into this and be smart about this.’ Especially since the last time we played them, their hits weren’t really strung together. But today, they were really on top of that, so good for them. … I think we kind of knew something would happen. But we just had to keep going with it.”
Kelso cut the deficit to 8-5 after five innings, then 8-6 after six.
In the top of the seventh, things got even more dicey when Avery Mackin hit a leadoff home run to make it 8-7.
But Corona fielded a grounder to short for the first out, and Lew grabbed a fly to right center for the second out.
A two-out single added to the tension before River recorded the final out for the district title. Both River and Kelso will advance to the state tournament next weekend in Yakima.
“It’s like really exciting,” Lew said. “Doing it twice in a row is crazy.”
Vickery added: “It makes for a great senior year.”
