Sequim Gazette staff
Never count a good Wolf out.
It’s the same theme that resonated from Sequim’s comeback win at Port Angeles earlier this year. And last Thursday afternoon, with similarly miserable weather conditions factoring into the Olympic League title tilt, Sequim’s Wolves proved once again they’re the top softball squad on the peninsula.
Sequim’s Rylleigh Zbaraschuk (in sunglasses) and Lea Hopson give some love to teammate Demiree Briones, who knocked in two runs against Port Angeles with a double in a 7-6, extra-inning win on May 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
The Wolves got an inside-the-park home run from Maddy Zbaraschuk in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra innings and Bailey Rhodefer scored on a throwing error in the eighth to edge Port Angeles 7-6 on May 5.
A win one day later gave Sequim a perfect 16-0 league mark and 19-0 overall record, their first unblemished regular season in school history.
Sequim did go undefeated in league play in 2006 and had just one league loss (to North Mason) last spring.
“This (week) just put us in the right direction,” coach Joel Lewis said. “I think the girls are excited.”
Sequim began the week with a 21-1 mauling of Bremerton on May 3, getting home runs from Zbaraschuk, Lea Hopson and Demireee Briones. Zbaraschuk went 4-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, Hopson drove in four, Briones had three RBIs and Cindy Miller added four hits.
Columbia Haupt gave Briones a break on the mound, going five innings of two-hit, one-run ball and tallying four strikeouts.
Sequim blasted Port Townsend 29-1 a day later, with Hopson going 5-for-6 with a home run, two triples, two doubles and four RBIs. Briones went 3-for-4 with a home run and Rylleigh Zbaraschuk added a home run and three RBIs. Amariah Clift chipped in with a pair of hits and two RBIs.
Sequim third baseman Bailey Rhodefer throws out a Port Angeles batter in Sequim’s 7-6, eight-inning win on May 5. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Briones worked the first inning before giving way to Makayla Bentz, who gave up just one unearned run and struck out three.
The wins set up a showdown with Port Angeles, whose lone blemish came at the hands of Sequim back on April 13, a 10-6 affair.
In the same vein, the peninsula’s top teams battled like prizefighters, seeing five lead changes and two ties in the span of eight innings before Port Angeles’ eighth inning miscue finally won it.
Lewis said she was glad to see a game like that before the postseason begins.
“It was more than a full game (and nice) to be put in those pressure situations,” she said.
Maddy Zbaraschuk finished with a home run and two runs scored, Hopson walked three times and scored as many runs, while Rhodefer and Alexas Besand each had two hits.
A day later, Sequim got a bit of a scare from the league’s No. 3 team, North Mason, but broke up a 2-2 deadlock with two runs in the third and three in the fourth for a 9-6 victory.
“I knew it would be closer than our other games,” Lewis said. “We were a little tired.”
Playoffs loom
With the top seed heading into the sub-district tourney, Sequim takes on the South Puget Sound League’s No. 2 team, White River, at 3 p.m. on May 13 in Enumclaw, while the SPSL’s champion Franklin Pierce takes on Seamount League champ Kennedy on the bracket’s other side at the same time.
(Sequim beat White River 20-0 in five innings earlier this season, but Lewis said the nonleague foe was missing a few starters).
Sequim’s second game, win or lose, is at 7 p.m. that same day.
The four teams are jockeying for the 1-4 seeds heading into the West Central District tournament, slated for May 20-21 in Tacoma.
The top six teams from districts advance to the class 2A state tournament, held at Carlon Park in Selah.
