Indians finish fourth

TACOMA – North Central’s marathon softball weekend ended in a loss. But by finishing in fourth place after playing six grueling games, the Indians accomplished more than they could have imagined.

“I had hopes,” said second baseman Jenny Darcy, one of three seniors whose sterling play secured not only the school’s first state win in three tournament tries, but earned for NC its first softball state trophy.

“We knew we could do it,” she said. “We just had to trust our teammates and know we could pull through in the clutch.”

And so they did, winning twice on Saturday, 1-0 in a nine-inning international tiebreaker over Hanford and 3-0 over Bonney Lake before running out of steam in the game for third and fourth.

The Indians took a first-inning lead over Sammamish before pitcher Kelsie Vallies’ arm gave out in a 5-1 defeat.

Until she allowed three runs on four hits in the second inning against the Totems, Vallies had thrown 38 innings in six games, allowing opponents runs in just two of those innings.

Included were the two shutouts on Saturday, including the marathon opener against Hanford in which the Indians’ lack of productivity, and to a certain extent of creativity, continued to put the burden on their junior hurler.

“Kelsie keeps us in games,” said coach Herm Marshall. “We wouldn’t be here without her.”

A little good fortune produced the winning run against Hanford when, with two on and two out, Lenae Brown’s soft hit to the right side was dropped by a stumbling first baseman and Alicia Kahler scored.

NC finally got its bats going against Bonney Lake, with nine hits, but again runs came grudgingly. Brown doubled in Cheyenne DeLaRose in the second inning to give Vallies breathing room as she ran her shutout innings string to 18 straight. The Indians tacked on solo runs in the sixth and seventh on RBI singles by Darcy and KaSara Wise.

Vallies allowed just four hits and struck out 23 during the two victories.

Kahler staked NC to an early 1-0 lead over Sammamish with the third of three straight first-inning singles. But Vallies clearly had lost her stuff. She walked in a fourth run in the third inning before making way for freshman Taylor Bachman.

And the Indians did not have another baserunner after the third inning.

But they had completed their best season in school history, winning four of six games at state to complete a 23-6 season.

“This means everything right now,” said Darcy, following the win over Bonney Lake that assured the title. “Coming back for the third year after having no success at all and having this success, I can’t put it into words.”