Tahoma senior Emily Miller wanted the fastpitch team to make a name for itself at the Class 4A state tournament this past weekend at Merkel Sports Complex in Spokane.

Though the Bears did not place in the tournament it was likely some of the best performances the squad has had in the four years Miller and five other seniors — Lisa Maulden, Shelby Carter, Courtney Visaya, Kiley Dunn and Sammii Jimenez — have played in the blue and gold.

“The equation was always the same,” said coach Tom Milligan. “Try to score runs, pitch well and play good defense.”

It began with a convincing 6-3 victory over Arlington and heartbreaking loss in extra innings to Woodinville, a team Tahoma held off until the bitter end when it gave up six runs in the top of the ninth including a three run home run by Lauren Burchak.

“That Woodinville game zapped us,” Milligan said. “To be in it with a team of the caliber for nine innings… emotionally it was tough. We saw it at the Saturday of districts and we saw it today.”

It was in the final game of the first day against South Puget Sound League North division rival Thomas Jefferson, almost immediately after the contest with Woodinville, that Tahoma’s bats got hot.

The Bears beat the Raiders 19-7. Jordan Walley and Carter both hit long balls in the game as part of the offensive onslaught, though Tahoma was down 5-3 briefly to Jefferson before breaking it wide open to make it 9-5 then never looked back.

With that win Tahoma earned the right to play on Saturday morning against Wenatchee.

But the Bears’ bats went cold as the sun broke through the clouds and melted away the rain, hail and dark clouds from the day before.

Wenatchee scored three runs in the first inning, tacked on two more in the third and fourth, then Kirsten Flones smashed a two run homer to make it 11-1 in the top of the sixth.

But, Tahoma wasn’t done trying to make a name for itself.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Tahoma scored four runs as Miller drove in Courtney Cloud with a sharp single then Carter stepped up to crush a three run home run to left field with Miller and Hayley Beckstrom on base.

With one last chance in the bottom of the seventh, the Bears mustered one more run when Molly Lathrop, a slight lefty slapper drove in a run but the offense had nothing more in the tank and Wenatchee won 11-6.

While it may be the end of the high school fastpitch career for six seniors, Miller’s wish after the team earned its spot in the state tournament for Tahoma to make a name for itself may have come true, but it was thanks to the hard work of those seniors.

“It was a building process,” Milligan said. “What they’ve developed into, it’s hard to see them walk away now.”

That process will continue and the group of seniors leave behind a legacy, Milligan said, while the players who return next year and 25 potential candidates from a strong junior varsity squad to fill those newly empty roster spots, 2012 may not be a rebuilding year.

“The kids can take the pieces of this experience from this season and add it into their junior or senior year,” he said. “More than anything else, you keep setting the bar, to let the kids see this, to give them something to reach for. They know what state is now.”

It’s hard for Milligan to say what next year will bring but one thing is certain: with its second shared SPSL North title and its first state berth since 1994, Tahoma fastpitch has made a name for itself this year.