High school softball roundup: Puyallup tops Peninsula for 4A SPSL title, coach Tony Batinovich wraps up storied career with win
Tony Batinovich reached into the past for a classic as he looked to motivate his Puyallup High School Vikings leading into the Class 4A South Puget Sound League softball tournament this weekend.
“In 2014, the year we won the state title, we asked the girls then, ‘Why not us?’ ” Batinovich said. “So, I asked this group the same thing. Why not us? Can we win three in a row?”
On Saturday afternoon at Curtis High School, the Vikings answered their coach with a resounding, “Yes.”
Puyallup’s offense erupted for eight runs early and held on as Peninsula mounted a late-game comeback before the Vikings eventually took an 8-5 victory over the Seahawks in the league championship game.
It was the 10th league title for Batinovich and the Vikings, and it becomes the coach’s last. Batinovich, the only coach in program history, has stepped down as coach after 29 seasons. The longtime Puyallup mentor earlier this year led his Vikings volleyball team to an undefeated season and the 4A SPSL title in that sport, too.
“This is kinda sweet,” Batinovich said. “It’s my last game as a head coach. Is there any better way to go out that winning a title with a group of kids you admire? That’s storybook right there.”
Puyallup beat South Kitsap in its first-round game on Friday, then edged Sumner, 2-1, on Saturday morning in the semifinals. The Seahawks advanced to the championship game with a 3-1 semifinals victory over league power Olympia.
Peninsula continued its nice run from earlier against the Bears right into the first inning against the Vikings.
After dispatching Puyallup 1-2-3 in the top half of the first, the Seahawks touched Vikings starter Isabelle Welch for a run in the bottom of the inning. Peninsula hit four balls hard, got two hits and leadoff hitter Emily Barry scored on a two-out, RBI single from Malia Coit for the early 1-0 lead.
The advantage was short-lived, however.
Samantha Bland led off the Puyallup second with a single. That ignited a four-run outburst on five hits, aided by one error, that put the Vikings in front for good, 4-1.
It was the first of three straight innings where Bland started Puyallup rallies.
With one out in the third, the junior crushed a line drive, solo home run that got things going again. Lauryn Krick and Taryn Takayoshi followed with a double and single, and both eventually scored, as Puyallup extended its lead to 7-1.
Then with two outs in the fourth, Bland drew a walk. A wild pitch moved her into scoring position at second base, and Krick drove her home with an RBI single.
Bland finished having gone 2-for-3 at the plate with that walk, an RBI and three runs scored.
“I’m just really proud to be on this team,” Bland said. “This means everything. We have no seniors, so this really was kind of a developmental year. We’re all going to be back.”
Well, all but their coach.
Leading 8-1, Puyallup did have to endure the comeback.
Peninsula scored twice in the fourth, then Aislinn O’Reilly hit a two-run homerun in the fifth that got the Seahawks back to 8-5. The score stayed that way into the bottom of the seventh, when Peninsula manufactured a last effort to tie or even win this one.
Alli Kinball, O’Reilly and Coit hit consecutive singles with one out against Welch. But with the bases loaded, Puyallup’s sophomore starter struck out Hailey Ruckle and Glory Eastabrook swinging to end the threat and the game.
In doing so, Welch struck out the side in the seventh and finished with 10 strikeouts for the game.
“We had no business winning this thing,” Batinovich said. “I think the key was getting ahead early today. We don’t usually give our pitchers that kind of lead. And hey, anything can happen in a COVID year — Puyallup Viks, SPSL league champs.”
3A PCL
Bonney Lake 16, Spanaway Lake 0: The Panthers have yet to lose a 3A PCL softball game.
Since the league was created ahead of the 2016-17 school year, the Panthers have posted a perfect 55-0 record, and they wrapped up a fourth consecutive league title with Saturday afternoon’s rout of the Sentinels at Bonney Lake High School.
They posted another spotless 13-0 record during this COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season, including shutting out 10 opponents. They allowed only seven runs all season.
“It meant a lot to really see what we had in us,” Bonney Lake coach Kate Zender said. “It’s a nice feeling to have, especially after that year off. It gets us excited for what’s to come. … It would have been cool to see what we could have done in a normal season.
“We’re excited for the future, I know that much.”
Bonney Lake smashed five home runs in the championship win, one of them belonging to standout Brynn Nelson, who completed her high school career with a 3-for-4 day.
“We talked about coming out there and not taking anything for granted,” Zender said. “Even though we’ve seen Spanaway Lake a couple of times (this season), we said, ‘Let’s light a fire within and just go for it.’ ”
3A SSC
The 3A SSC decided its league champions through regular season play, and Yelm (14-0) turned away persistent challenges from Timberline (9-3) to win yet another title.
Two of Yelm’s three wins over the Blazers came in one-run games.
In mid-April, the Blazers carried a three-run lead into the seventh inning, but the Tornados rallied for four in the bottom of the frame and walked off with an 11-10 victory.
Thursday, this time on the road, Yelm rallied for another last-at-bat triumph, scoring two unearned runs in the top of the seventh to win, 7-6.
Yelm’s attack was relentless all season, with Katelyn Cederburg, Kailei Thompson, Molly Embrey and Elissa Dewees batting over .500. Not far behind were Ashlyn Aven, who led the Tornados with four home runs and 20 runs batted in, Molly Corak, Elena Castanon and Daylene Keyes, who all hit over .400.
In the circle, junior left-hander Vivian Watts was 10-0 with a 1.83 earned run average. Freshman Madisyn Erickson was 4-0 and even stingier with a 1.07 ERA and a .162 opponent batting average.
Yelm had reached the 3A state semifinals in each of the three seasons immediately preceding the cancelled 2020 campaign. With nine juniors on this season’s undefeated team, the Tornados have legitimate hopes of picking up where they left off if post-season play resumes as expected in 2022.
Staff writer Tyler Wicke and contributing writer Dave Weber contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 9:09 PM.