Marysville Pilchuck finishes second in Class 4A state softball tourney

Published 6:11 pm Saturday, May 28, 2011

SPOKANE — Marysville Pilchuck softball players took turns crying and laughing long after the conclusion of the championship game of the state Class 4A tournament.

Both responses seemed appropriate. Marysville Pilchuck dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to Walla Walla on Saturday afternoon, but the game and the season were memorable ones for the Tomahawks.

“Our whole team wanted it (the title) really, really bad, but I don’t think anyone on the team is disappointed in how we did,” Tommies star Riley Fritz said.

“We finished better than any other softball team in Marysville Pilchuck history. We had five seniors who have been playing together since we were 9 years old.”

Fritz’s outstanding prep career came to a bitter end when she struck out on a rise ball with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the seventh at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex. Walla Walla pitchers threw shutouts in all four of their state tournament games.

“I’m proud of them,” Tomahawks coach KT Allyn said of her players, “but of course, we wanted the first-place trophy.”

The Tomahawks (23-4) also left the bases loaded in the second inning, and they wound up stranding 10. That proved fatal against hard-throwing Alyson Ambler, who pitched a four-hitter and provided the only offense Walla Walla (27-1) needed when she launched a fastball to left-center for a leadoff homer off Fritz in the fourth inning.

“She pitching everything out, out, out,” Ambler said. “She gave me one pitch in. That’s what I was looking for.”

Ambler, a junior who is drawing considerable recruiting interest from NCAA Division I schools as a pitcher and outfielder, finished the year 15-0 with an earned run average in the 0.50 neighborhood.

“She was a really good pitcher,” Fritz said, “but we had a lot of (scoring) opportunities.”

The Tomahawks routed previously unbeaten Woodinville 7-2 in the semifinals Saturday morning. Sacha Crow ignited a four-run first inning with a leadoff homer against Mali Schreyer, a sophomore who has verbally committed to Stanford.

Ambler was playing first base when she homered in Walla Walla’s 1-0 semifinal win over Skyview of Vancouver.

State Class 4A Softball Tournament
At Spokane
Dwight Merkel Sports Complex
Championship game
Walla Walla 1, Marysville Pilchuck 0
Walla Walla 000 100 0 — 1 3 2
Marysville-Pilchuck 000 000 0 — 0 4 1
Alyson Ambler and Kendsey Hill. Riley Fritz, Monica Clow (7) and Jessica Christensen. W — Ambler. L — Fritz. 2B—Haley Fritz (MP). HR—Ambler (WW).

Semifinal game
Marysville Pilchuck 7, Woodinville 2
Marysville-Pilchuck 400 110 1 — 7 8 1
Woodinville 000 002 1 — 2 8 1
Mali Schreyer, Kezlin Davis (5) and Katie Engelbrecht. Monica Clow and Jessica Christensen. W — Clow. L — Schreyer. 2B—Christensen (MP), Wood (MP). HR—Clow (MP).