RICHLAND – They may have wanted more, but it was beyond a successful season for the Mountaineers who entered the Class 1A State Fastpitch Tournament as the sixth seed and came away with the fourth-place trophy.
“Coming home with a trophy, that’s the goal.” Mount Baker coach Ron Lepper said moments after embracing his four seniors. “I’m really happy for the girls, and how they battled back after the Nooksack game (14-4 loss in the semifinals) and beat Castle Rock to get into the trophy game.”
After losing to the Pioneers, Baker battled Castle Rock for a chance to play for third place.
The Rockets held a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning, but a solo homerun by Ashlynn Cloninger tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, and the Mountaineers took the lead for good three batters later when Kaitlyn Rosenburg smashed a two-run homerun to left field.
Baker ended up winning the game 8-5.
“I’ve been in a bit of a hitting slump” Rosenburg said after the game while stretching her left hip. “It was so great to break out of it and help lift my team.”
The senior was battling a left hip injury during the entire tournament but gutted out every inning that she could in the field, in the circle or at the plate.
Playing in their third game of the day, the Mounties fell to top-seeded Eatonville 13-6, which gave them the fourth-place finish.
Senior Kerianna Cronk led her team offensively in the final game with three base hits.
“I had a lot of hope for this team at the beginning of the season,” Cronk said. “I knew what we had, along with the strong freshmen we had coming in, and it’s been an exciting season. Just being here is exciting, I’m so happy and proud for all of my teammates.”
Mount Baker finished with a 23-6 record on the year and established a new school record for wins in a season.
Excellent, gutsy work! Well played series.