Robbins ruffles La Conner's State title hopes

The Yakima sun wasn’t alone bringing the heat to last week’s State 2B Girls’ Softball Tournament.

So did Christine Robbins.

The aptly named Morton-White Pass hurler nearly dropped a goose egg on La Conner in Friday’s first round State action at the Gateway Sports Complex, an 11-1 setback for the Lady Braves.

Robbins, quick to the plate throughout, fired a four-hitter and struck out 12 batters, sending Bi-District champion La Conner to the consolation bracket.

The sophomore standout also helped her cause with a three-run homer, one of four Morton-White Pass circuit clouts on the day.

La Conner averted a shutout with a nice start in the bottom of the first.

Shortstop Elizabeth Tripp, who delivered two of the Lady Braves’ four safeties, led off the frame with a single. She promptly stole second before moving to third on a wild pitch.

Tripp eventually plated on a one-out sacrifice fly by Emma Christianson.

From then on, though, Robbins was nearly flawless.

She blanked La Conner the rest of the way, scattering singles to Tripp, Ashley Watkins, and Olivia Hedlund.

Trailing 4-1 in the fourth, after the Robbins round-tripper, La Conner briefly threatened when Christianson got aboard via a two-base error with one down.

But Robbins once again bore down. She induced a ground out and rang up another strikeout, stranding Christianson at third.

“It was one of those cases,” Lady Braves’ head coach Peg Seeling said afterward, “where it was a tough matchup for our young team. We have a lot of first-year players, and Morton-White Pass had quite a few seniors in their lineup.”

Things got better for La Conner in the second round, however.

Facing elimination, the Lady Braves responded with one of their best outings in a solid 20-5 campaign.

La Conner ousted Bridgeport 10-0 behind a three-hitter tossed by Hedlund.

She was backed with an eight-hit Lady Braves’ attack led by Lexi Nelson and Watkins, each of whom collected a pair of singles.

Christianson, Hedlund, Nakesha Edwards, and Lauren Reynolds also lined base hits for La Conner.

A fifth inning single by Reynolds that drove in Watkins ended matters, putting into effect the 10-run mercy rule.

La Conner again enjoyed a fast start, only this time was able to sustain the momentum.

The Lady Braves took a quick 3-0 lead courtesy a two-out rally in the second, taking advantage of a wild streak by Bridgeport pitcher Shaylee Polvos.

Polvos walked two, hit a pair of batters, and was victimized by a costly error during the critical stretch.

Nelson provided the key hit, an RBI single to center that tallied La Conner’s first run.

More were to come. Many more.

The Lady Braves broke the game open with a four-spot in the fourth.

La Conner parlayed a walk, an error, a hit batsman, and singles by Watkins and Christianson into a big inning.

Unfortunately, there were no big innings for La Conner in its swan song opposite Pe Ell.

The Lady Braves fell 10-0 to the southwest Washington powerhouse, managing just two hits — a double and single by Christianson — against Pe Ell pitching.

Still, all wasn’t lost as far as Seeling was concerned.

“I think for a really young team with only two seniors — and one of them being a first-year player — we did okay,” she said. “We had some costly errors in the two State games we lost, but we also made some amazing plays along the way.”

In related notes:

*Seeling singled out defensive gems made by Watkins, Nakesha Edwards, and Madi Cavanaugh in Yakima. Watkins and Cavanaugh combined for seven outfield putouts in the Morton-White Pass game, while Edwards made a tremendous running grab against Pe Ell on Saturday.

*Hedlund and Christianson were praised by Seeling for their yeoman work as batterymates, especially in the shutout win over Bridgeport.

*Tripp covered a lot of ground defensively in the Yakima tourney, Seeling noted, alluding to her seven putouts and four assists in three games.