Lady Cruisers Finish Third At State

The normally explosive Eatonville Cruiser offense was stymied by Lakeside’s Jade Williams who would hold the Lady Cruisers to only three runs on nine hits as the #5 seeded Eagles would upset the #1 seeded Cruisers and derail Eatonville’s bid for a state title by a score of 6-3 in the semifinals of the 2022 WIAA 1A State Championship tournament, thus ending Eatonville’s magical season.

The Eatonville Cruiser fastpitch team pose with their third place trophy at the 2022 WIAA 1A State Fastpitch Tournament this past weekend in Richland, WA. Photo: Sarah Rath

The Eagles would put up three runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the second before the Cruisers knew what hit them.

Trailing 5-0, Eatonville would finally get on the board in the bottom of the third inning. After a Hailey Rath triple, Mary Chabot would double to center scoring Rath and cutting into the Eagle’s lead at 5-1.

Lakeside would add another run in the top of the first inning to increase their lead to 6-1.

The Cruisers would strike back in the bottom half of that inning. With a runner on first, Charlie Smith would launch a ball over the fence in centerfield for a 2-run home run. Unfortunately, the runner that was on base at the time failed to touch second as she rounded the bases. The Lakeside coach filed an appeal with the umpire and the runner was called out, so only one run would score inching the Cruisers closer at 6-2.

Eatonville would score one more run in the sixth inning when Berkeley Porter would drive in Brooke Blocker to pull the Cruisers within three at 6-3.

In the final inning, Rath would get aboard to keep the Cruiser’s hopes alive, but she would be stranded there and Lakeside would take the win 6-3.

That loss would drop the Cruisers into the consolation bracket where they would defeat Hoquiam by a score of 9-7 and Mount Baker 13-7 to claim a third-place overall finish.

That is one heck of a season for the Lady Cruisers. Besides notching that 3rd place finish at State, they also have an Evergreen 1A League title and a Southwestern Washington 1A District IV title to add to their trophy case this season.

The team would finish with a 22-5 overall record on the season.

Head Coach Jen Smith had a lot to say about her current team.

“The last time the Lady Cruiser fastpitch team went to state was when 4 out of the 5 current seniors were freshmen. This year's team placed higher than any Cruiser fastpitch team before us. The thought was the sky was the limit for us, players coming into the program and current players refined their skills, weight trained, and got stronger and more confident. The next year COVID hit, we lost our season and said goodbye to some amazing athletes that graduated. The following year, last year we had one of the most talented groups of softball players I had ever seen through and through, but we only had a total of 18 players turn out due to the season being a shortened season. That team only got to play 13 games, no districts, no state. It was quite the heartbreaker".

Smith went on, "When this season started we again had low numbers but our core was there and we built. The mindset put forth was to be able to play on a freeway, meaning that things will come at us from all different directions and speeds and we will need to be able to move forward positively. Four of our girls knew what making it to state took and what it meant. The fire of how badly they wanted to make it there again resonated throughout the entire team. Game after game we prepared, practiced, and worked. These girls love the grind and have grit. This season had its ups and downs. Way more ups thankfully. We went into state as the number one seed which gave us the hammer (home) in every contest, which is a big advantage in my opinion. The thought was taking state is a very high possibility. We are known for our bats and I haven’t heard or seen any other team do as much damage at the plate as us in 1A. Watching film and talking with other coaches and players I felt we would have some really close games and awesome competition. Our first game in State was the best. We went 10 innings and it required all hands on deck to pull this one off and we did it. The second game was heartbreaking. It was a 9:00 game that we ourselves lost. We had a lot of errors, fielding, base-running, mental, and low energy. The worst part was that was the game that made it not possible to play for 1st. We gathered ourselves and took a turn for the better. For this, I could not be prouder of these girls. They dug deep and in the final game, we played for our five seniors and took 3rd. These seniors and their families have been a part of Eatonville fastpitch from middle school through high school and will be missed incredibly on the high school field. Seven out of the twelve varsity players will be leaving after this season either graduating or moving away. While I am so proud of these ladies I do feel a sense of sadness. I will miss their energy, knowledge of the game, craziness, and ability to get things done”.