NC 2-1 in 3A

TACOMA – Thanks to impeccable pitching by Kelsie Vallies, North Central earned its first State 3A win and seemingly had the formula for reaching the second day of the State 3A semifinals at SERA Fields on Friday.

The idea was to scratch out a handful of runs over the course of 21 innings, even one that came without benefit of a hit, and let Vallies do the rest.

She did her best, beating Everett 1-0 in the opener and held a similar 1-0 lead over Kennedy into the final inning of the quarterfinals. But the bottom of the seventh, which was so good to the Indians in the opener, turned fickle as the Lancers rallied for a 2-1 victory.

In the 7 p.m. consolation round against Kelso during her third game of the day, Vallies hurled four more innings of no-hit shutout ball, before gutting out a come-from-behind 3-2 victory, although not before surviving a bases-loaded, no-out seventh-inning scare.

NC (21-5) managed a total of seven hits in three games, just enough to reach uncharted territory as one of eight remaining teams in the tourney, with a 9 a.m. date today vs. Hanford.

NC 1, Everett 0: In NC’s first state softball win in the 9 a.m. eye-opener, Vallies and her pitching counterpart, Cory Mattson, matched zeros until the seventh.

In the bottom of the seventh, Vallies reached base on a fielder’s choice. Vallies scored when Alicia Kahler got a base hit through the right side, ending the game.

Said Vallies, who finished with nine strikeouts, “I was a little nervous to begin with because I was kind of worried we weren’t going to get any hits. I’m so excited just to know we’ve won a game at state, finally.”

Kennedy 2, NC 1: The Indians scored in the fifth. Vallies no-hit the Lancers for five innings and worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth.

But in the bottom of the seventh, a hit, a topped ball to third that was just slow enough that NC couldn’t make a play, single and fielder’s choice brought the winners from behind.

NC 3, Kelso 2: The Indians manufactured their first run in the second on an error, single and sacrifice bunt dropped by the first baseman. But a two-out triple in the fifth put Kelso ahead.

NC came back in the bottom of the sixth, getting the benefit of a couple of close calls on the bases that put Vallies and Kahler on. With two outs, left-handed batting Rhea Clary dumped a hit just inside the left-field line to plate the winning runs.