Olympic League prevails in softball

By Nicholas Zeller-Singh Kitsap News Group • May 22, 2023 1:30 am

The Olympic League finished first through third in softball districts at the Regional Athletic Complex and had a 10-5 record over the two days.

“It’s a real showing of how tough our league is,” Kingston coach Brenda George said. “We come out hard, and there is a lot of respect for our league right now.”

North Kitsap took first place, defeating White River 15-0, Olympic 10-4 and Port Angeles 14-10. “They have the goal to win districts,” North Kitsap coach Clay Blackwood said. “We even wrote it down.”

NK ace Reese Anderson led the Vikings to the title on the mound and at the plate. She began her tournament with a home run and three scoreless innings against White River. “I was a little bit worried at my first at-bat because I don’t do well with slow pitchers,” Anderson said. “I saw that first pitch, and it looked really good.”

The Vikings tallied five more home runs in their first two games May 19.

Port Angeles captured second and qualified for state too.

Olympic finished third and will head to state as well. The No. 5 Trojans defeated Enumclaw 6-2, fell to North Kitsap and defeated Fife 11-7. “We were in control but they kept fighting back,” Olympic coach Chuck Stark said after the Enumclaw game.

Kingston finished a historic season, ending with a .500 record or better for the first time since 2014-15. In addition, they captured their first district win in a decade. “It’s really exciting and refreshing since the middle of the season we fully dipped,” Kingston’s Tegan Stanford said. “We came back strong.”

The Buccaneers started slow, but beat Tyee 16-1. “I get butterflies before every game,” Stanford said. “It’s just about using them in the right way, and I was not using them in the right way.”

Stanford bounced back and stopped her hitting slump with a home run. In addition, Aadland Goller picked up 6 RBI in the first game off two hits. “To be able to come out and produce the result, this is the time to peak,” George said.

Unfortunately, the Bucs ran into a vengeful Enumclaw squad. Both sides were locked at 1-1 through a few innings. Yet, Enumclaw took an 8-1 lead. The Bucs ended up falling 10-4.

South Kitsap and Klahowya both lost their first game of the district tournament. The Wolves lost to Tahoma 10-7, won against Curtis 4-3 and lost to Olympia 5-3. The Eagles lost to Cascade Christian 11-8.