Pirates hit four home runs, top Spartans for district title
May 19—Box Score
At Fort Borst Park
PIRATES 10, SPARTANS 7
Adna 110 044 0 — 10
Forks 003 040 0 — 7
ADNA Pitching — LaFontaine 7 IP, 10 H, 7 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 6 K. Highlights — K. Humphrey 3-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R; Carroll 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R; LaFontaine 2-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, R; Hallom 3-5, 2B, 2 R
The Pirates are back on top of District 4.
Adna claimed the District 4 Championship for the second time in three seasons on Saturday, topping Forks 10-7 in the district title game.
"I loved the way we played today," Adna coach Bruce Pocklington said. "We fought through some adversity, and we knew we'd have to. We really played as a team today, probably the best yet."
In a rematch of last season's state championship game, both offenses came to play.
Kendall Humphrey opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the first, and Avery LaFontaine doubled the Adna (18-4) advantage with another solo shot one inning later.
Forks took the lead with three in the third, and they held that lead until the fifth.
Humphrey gave the Pirates the lead for the second time, hitting a go-ahead, three-run home run to give Adna the momentum.
The momentum quickly changed hands with Forks matched Adna's four-spot with four of their own in the bottom of the fifth, but the Pirates retook the lead with another four runs in the sixth. That rally was capped by Alyssa Carroll's two-run home run, her first of the season.
"We did a lot of good things today," Pocklington said. "We had a good dugout going, we had lots of quality at-bats when we needed them."
On the mound for the Pirates wasn't Ava Simms, who was resting a sore knee (and is expected to be ready for the state tournament next week).
Instead, it was LaFontaine, the freshman who was starting just her fourth varsity game of the season.
"She's thrown in some varsity games, but not a big varsity game," Pocklington said. "For a freshman to come in and do what she did today, she did a great job."
LaFontaine allowed just four earned runs against a Forks team that averaged nearly a dozen runs per game coming in, and she also struck out six Spartans.
"We hit some rocky bumps there defensively, but she fought through it," Pocklington said. "She really did a great job."
After the final out was recorded, Humphrey, the offensive star of the show, was one of the first to converge on LaFontaine near the circle.
"I wanted to hug Avery so bad," Humphrey said. "She did so good."
With a league and district title under their belt, the Pirates will now turn their attention to the state tournament, where they'll try to become the first champions to repeat in 2B in a decade (2013-14 Toutle Lake).
Pocklington said that while the Pirates will be sure to enjoy this win, they know that district tournament success guarantees nothing at the state tournament, especially when another rematch with Forks could be on the horizon.
"Forks is a really good team," Pocklington said. "We're going to see them again. I hope it's this way again."
