Friday Harbor softball heads to state

Submitted by Oly Archibald

Friday Harbor Tiny Radio

The Friday Harbor girls softball team is headed to the state tournament.

The girls beat Orcas at the 2B district tournament on Saturday, May 19, 15-5. They will play Ocosta at the 2B state tournament at 11 a.m., Friday, May 25 at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.

Wolverine coach Brian Lambright has now taken the Wolverines to state in all four years of running the Wolverine Fastpitch team. Before Lambright, the Wolverines only had six state tournament appearances; now they have 10. According to www.nw1a2bathletics.com, the Wolverines won the Northwest 2B League championship going a perfect 10-0 with a 13-7 overall record. The Wolverines are averaging 10 runs per game and giving up just four.

After losing six seniors off of last year’s squad, the Wolverines needed some of their players to step up and improve. Assistant coach Robert Pauls said junior catcher Ava Hoffman is the most improved player from last year.

On the mound, the Wolverines have had great improvement from junior hurler Pauls and sophomore Siri Lindstrum. Both Pauls said Lindstrum has really improved from last year. Wolverine third baseman Bailee Lambright leads the club in hitting with a 576 batting average and is tied with RBIs with 25. Junior center fielder Thea Seitz has two home runs for the season and leads the Wolverines with 36 runs scored.

To get to districts, the girls beat Darrington on Wednesday, May 9, and both games against LaConner on Friday, May 11.

“Our pitchers Marcella Kirkland and Raylee Miniken were solid and kept Darrington off balance with their changeup pitch,” said coach Kirk Holt, of the May 9 game.

Bristol Halverson had a great over-the-head catch while she played left field, during the first inning, Holt continued, and catcher Jacqui Olson had a nice throw from behind the play to get a runner out at first base. The final score was 18-2.

On Friday, according to Holt, the girls came out hitting the ball hard against LaConner for the doubleheader. Eight out of nine Wolverine batters squared up the ball in this game.

“Siri Lindstrom pitched well, even though she was sick,” he said, adding that it was a good thing the game only lasted three innings. The final score of Game 1 was 16-1. Friday Harbor continued hitting, with Janya Ott making four for five of her at-bats, according to Holt.

“Grace Pauls pitched outstanding,” he said, adding that she had zero walks, hit her spots when she needed and her change-up kept LaConner off balance. The game’s final score was 11-1.

Catch the games, live, on Tiny Radio 1650 AM and at www.fhtinyradio.com.