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Softball:
Saints softball sweeps first NWAACC title in school history
The Advocate
Head Softball Coach Meadow McWhorter sensed something building as her fourth-ranked team won its opening game in last weekend’s NWAACC Championships.
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“I had a great feeling after the first game against Bellevue (a 3-0 victory),” said McWhorter on her team’s chances of winning NWAACCs. “We had great defense and intensity. It was a team I hadn’t seen yet. The team played with so much heart.”
The Saints picked a perfect time to find their groove and won five games in a row, including a 5-1 victory over the Walla Walla Warriors Monday at Delta Park to clinch MHCC’s first NWAACC softball title.
Lauren Hadenfeld picked up all five victories on the mound as well as this year’s tournament MVP honors. She pitched 33 of 35 innings in the five games and ended the tournament with 49 strikeouts. Her crowning achievement was a 1-0 perfect game Saturday in third-round action against the Lower Columbia Red Devils.
The championship game Monday against Walla Walla lasted just one hour and 45 minutes as Hadenfeld tamed the Warrior bats and the Saints’ powerful offense jumped on the Warriors right out of the gates.
The Saints opened the bottom of the first inning with runs by freshmen Bre Thomas and Ari VanHorn off the bats of sophomore All-American Ashley Lokey and freshman Nicole Colpron.
The Saints added another run in the bottom of the third inning when Lokey stole second base and scored on a Warrior throwing error.
Colpron drove in a run and scored in the bottom of the fourth inning to add more two insurance runs. VanHorn drove in Colpron with an RBI single.
It wasn’t until the top of the sixth inning that the Warriors finally got to Hadenfeld for a run when freshman Shaila Rivers hit an RBI double to score freshman Kayla Hutcheson.
Hadenfeld held the Warriors to four hits and struck out six batters in the winning effort.
Asked how McWhorter kept Hadenfeld calm and ready for each game, the coach said it all started with the running she had the pitchers do before each practice to keep their arms warm and their legs warmer.
“We started having our pitchers run two miles every day before practice and that played a huge role in keeping their legs and arms strong. A couple of times during the tournament she (Hadenfeld) got flat and I reminded her to use her legs and it worked out. She was on fire.”
The Saints knew they had a handful with Warrior’s pitcher sophomore Makenzie Marchbanks, who was honored as an All-American prior to the tournament starting. Marchbanks led all NWAACC pitchers with 23 victories during the regular season.
“She (Marchbanks) had a very successful season,” said McWhorter. “The biggest difference was we made adjustments at the plate. We had so much swagger. You could see it in our batters’ eyes every time someone got up to plate. They wanted it.”
Sophomore All-American Ashley Lokey couldn’t agree with McWhorter more on how much the team wanted it this year. Lokey said the momentum came after the third-game victory over the Red Devils.
“We played it one day at a time,” said Lokey. “Our biggest victory was against Lower Columbia. That was the ‘championship’ game. We had a confident, cocky feeling that we were going to win it all. After we won, it all it came in phases – we won for ourselves, our coaches and the school.”
McWhorter recalled an encounter during last year’s NWAACC championship game when the Saints lost to the Red Devils. Freshman catcher Ariel Fulkerson, who at the time was a recruit and a senior at Battle Ground High School, was in the stands to witness the Saints lose in dramatic fashion, a walk-off homerun by a Red Devil that sent the Saints home with a second-place finish. After the game, Fulkerson sent McWhorter an encouraging text message for the 2009 season.
“Ariel sent me a text message saying, ‘Keep your head up because we’re bringing home the title next season’ — and that’s what we did.”
Fulkerson said they wanted more than anything to bring home a championship for the sophomores who were a part of last year’s second-place team.
“All the hard work throughout the season paid off,” said Fulkerson. “The sophomores were heart-broken from last year and some of these girls were playing in their last competitive games ever. We wanted this so badly. Plus you can’t take home second place two years in a row.”
Fulkerson said, “The team peaked at the right time.”
Before the final game against the Warriors, McWhorter urged her team to keep its focus. “I told the team to be here right now and in the moment,” she said.
McWhorter emphasized on the importance of the whole team playing a major role on winning this year’s NWAACC title.
“This championship was a team effort,” said McWhorter. “We had girls on the bench, who didn’t get a chance to step on the dirt who were pivotal to our success on the field. Everyone was important. Everyone was a key part of our family.”
The Saints ended the tournament with a handful of individual awards, including NWAACC Coach of the Year honors for McWhorter. Hadenfeld, Lokey, Thomas, Capron and Fulkerson made the tournament all-star team.