Cascade fastpitch softball wins District Championship in dramatic fashion

The Cascade Kodiak fastpitch softball team, already the Caribou Trail League champions, played against Okanogan in the District Championship game last Saturday in Dryden. To the winner, a berth in the state tournament.
On April 24, Cascade edged Okanogan 2-1 to help secure that league title. It figured to be another close match.
Okanogan scored in the top of the first from a walk, steal, passed ball and RBI single. The Bulldogs scored again in the third from a double and passed ball. Over the first five innings, Cascade had nine baserunners, six of which reached scoring position.
They were unable to score due to some base running errors. Trailing 2-0 in sixth, Cascade scored four times in dramatic fashion to take the lead for the first time, 4-2.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Alondra Acevedo singled to right to score Rylee Jacobson from second, who was pinch running for Colby West, who had walked. Madison Hardy loaded the bases with a walk.
Truh Merriman had the big blow, a double off the centerfield wall that cleared the bases. In the top of the seventh, Sarah Paulson struck out all three Bulldog batters to secure the win.
“This was a great win for the team today. The first five innings where very frustrating as we kept getting runners on but ran ourselves out of a couple scoring opportunities. Despite the frustrations the girls kept playing good defense behind the strong pitching of Sarah Paulson to keep the game in reach. Finally, in the sixth, we did enough things right and picked up a couple key hits to plate the needed runs,” said Todd Gilbert, Cascade head coach.
Paulson pitched 7 innings, giving up 1 earned run on 4 hits with 11 strikeouts and 3 walks. Merriman was 2-for-2 with a double and 3 RBIs. Kayla Bittle was 2-for-2 with a walk and run. Acevedo was 1-for-3 with a run and RBI.
“Winning a game like this by grinding it out and coming from behind shows how far this team has come this year and they will now have the opportunity to compete in the state tournament over Memorial Day weekend.  They have a lot to be proud of,” Gilbert said.
The State 1A Tournament is May 25, 26 at the Columbia Playfield in Richland.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.