Tahoma and Kentlake had their share of ups and downs at the 4A state fastpitch tournament May 25-26 at Merkel Sports Complex in Spokane.
Kentlake struggled to get the bats going in both games and was eliminated on the first day with a 7-4 loss to Monroe in the opening round followed by a 4-3 loss in extra innings to Central Valley.
Tahoma bounced back from a 3-1 loss in the first game to Richland, which went on to beat Thomas Jefferson 13-3 for third place at the end of the tournament, to put together a 10-4 win over Inglemoor in the second game on May 25 then propelled into the second day of play with a 10-5 victory over Bothell in the third game of the first day of action.
In an eerily familiar second day experience reminiscent of the 2011 tournament for Tahoma the squad played on the same field where it was eliminated a year ago.
One bad inning against Monroe on the morning of May 26 ended Tahoma’s hopes of bringing home a trophy when the Bearcats scored nine runs in the bottom of the second inning after the Bears took an early 1-0 lead. All things considered, however, Tahoma coach Tom Milligan said that while the final chapter on the season did not end the way he hoped overall the story of this year’s team was much better than anyone might have anticipated.
A year ago the Bears graduated six seniors who led the team to back-to-back South Puget Sound League North co-championships and its first appearance at the state tournament in nearly 20 years.
“When we started this year … we were replacing six seniors,” Milligan said. “We never thought we could (get back to state) in one year even though we had a couple of seniors who were part of that group who did it before. I thought it was going to be a year where we were going to have to teach the how to do things.”
Right out of the gate, though, Tahoma beat Jefferson which was favored to win the division, “and things snowballed from there,” Milligan said.
Little more than a month ago Milligan was reflecting on what the team could accomplish in the post-season in a conversation with his wife.
“This is a good group of kids,” he said. “I said to my wife, ‘I want to take these kids to state.’ This has been a really great past couple days.”
Milligan reflected on his two seniors, Hayley Beckstrom and Jordan Walley, who had played varsity since they were freshmen.
Four seasons ago Tahoma was playing an early season game against Auburn. Emily Miller, who graduated in 2011, was a sophomore starting at shortstop at the time and Beckstrom was at second base.
A decision was made to flip them to see what Beckstrom could do at short.
What she did was nothing short of impressive, Milligan said.
“She dives for the ball … then from her knees, throws it and it’s a bang-bang play, as a freshman,” Milligan said. “That definitely has been a constant for us, rock solid. This year she just continues to get better. She’s our MVP and she showed that in the league.”
Walley played first base, she pitched and she hit the ball hard.
“She had more extra base hits than singles this year,” Milligan said. “No matter what you throw her, she’s going to get her pitch, she’s going to get hold of it and put it somewhere. You put a couple of quick lefties in front of Jordan and boom, instant offense.”
Then with Beckstrom — who smacked six home runs this season and put up a three run shot for Tahoma against Bothell at the state tournament — hitting behind Walley it was a lethal combination.
Those two have helped teach the younger players who will return next year what it means to build a new tradition. Tahoma finished second in the division, eighth at districts and eighth at state with a 21-11 record.
“Now we’ve got a basis, a groundwork that we can build on,” Milligan said. “They’re going to have big goals next year.”
