In a rare feat, three Federal Way schools qualified for the West Central District softball tournament.

But Kent turned out unkind for all three: None of them were able to advance to the state tournament.

Each of Federal Way, Thomas Jefferson, and Todd Beamer were confident in their chances at making it to state after solid seasons. For Federal Way and Jefferson, the dream came within one game before it was snatched away.

The West Central District tournament began on Friday at the Service Club Ballfields. It was supposed to conclude Saturday, but rain pushed the second day of games to Sunday.

The Eagles came the closest to earning a state tournament berth. They took on the defending state champion Tahoma Bears in a winner-to-state game in the consolation bracket. They were within two outs of making it to the state playoffs when the Bears roared back for the victory.

Federal Way took the early lead in the game when Tally Thomas hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. The lead held for three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Tahoma tied the game on a two-run double by Jennifer Kistner. They would take a 3-2 lead in the following inning.

The Eagles refused to fold, taking the lead back in the top of the sixth. Thomas tied the game at 3-3 when she scored on a Czarachaella Galapon single. An error allowed Jessica Kuhn to score on the next at-bat, giving Federal Way the lead once again.

Rain began to pour during the sixth, leading to a 40-minute-long delay. When the game resumed, Federal Way had the bases loaded but couldn’t add more runs.

Melissa Mateus recorded an RBI single in the top of the seventh to give the Eagles a 5-3 cushion heading into what they hoped would be the final half inning.

They started the inning by getting an out. Tahoma star athlete Mia Corbin made sure it wouldn’t be a three up and three down inning when she singled during the next at-bat.

Kiera Shipley followed with a single of her own, barely beating the throw to first, which sparked vehement disagreement from the Federal Way coaches. The ruling immediately came back to haunt the Eagles: South Puget Sound League North MVP Delaney Nelson hit a two-run double to tie the game at five.

The ninth brought tiebreaker rules into effect and a runner was placed at second base.

The Eagles moved their runner to third in the top half of the inning but couldn’t score.

Jenson Burton laid down a bunt single to bring runners to the corners to start the bottom of the inning for Tahoma. One batter later, Corbin ended the game with a three-run home run to left-center field, sending the Bears back to the state tournament and knocking the Eagles out of contention.

Federal Way had gotten to that point by beating Kentlake in their first game before falling to Gig Harbor in their first winner-to-state game. The Eagles couldn’t solve Tides pitcher Jordan Adams in the latter game; she struck out 10 and gave up just five hits in Gig Harbor’s 4-0 win. Jaclyn Gillis had three of the hits for the Eagles.

Federal Way bounced back with a 13-8 win over Kentridge on the second day to advance to the game against Tahoma.

Gillis’ pitching for the Eagles was stellar for much of the weekend. In nine innings of work against Gig Harbor and Kentlake on the first day, she allowed just one earned run while striking out eight against the Falcons. Of the eight runs scored by Kentridge on Sunday, only three of them were earned runs. She struck out another four batters.

The Eagles finish their season with a 16-10 record.

Thomas Jefferson

The Raiders’ path throughout the West Central District tournament somewhat resembled Federal Way’s. In Jefferson’s first game against South Kitsap, the Raiders trailed early, falling behind 3-1 after two innings.

They weren’t down for long. Jefferson took a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning, scoring three runs in the bottom half.

Their bats came alive again in the fifth inning as they scored another five runs. Two of those came on a Leanne Bryant home run.

South Kitsap cut the lead to four in the top of the sixth inning, but Jefferson added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning on another two-run home run.

In the final inning, South Kitsap cut the lead to four but were unable to do any more damage. The Raiders won after turning an 8-5-3 double play, earning the opportunity to face the undefeated Puyallup in a winner-to-state game.

It was the 13th time the Raiders scored double-digit runs this season and the 13th time they won.

The second game started out well enough for Jefferson as they took a quick 2-0 lead.

It didn’t last long. Puyallup scored three in the bottom of the inning and never looked back, increasing their lead to 9-2 by the fourth inning.

Jefferson was unable to avoid the 10-run rule as Puyallup scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game 12-2.

“We didn’t have enough players make good adjustments to the way they were pitching us,” said Jefferson coach Greg Campbell. “We’ll get it figured out and they’ll hit the ball again [Sunday].”

They did hit the ball on Sunday, running out to a 3-0 lead over Graham-Kapowsin in three innings. The Eagles surged back, tying the game at 3-3 in the sixth inning and taking the lead in seventh on a Chenoa White RBI single.

But the Raiders were dangerous with a bat in their hands, just as they’d been all season long. They rallied in the bottom of the seventh and put the game back at 4-4.

Samantha Simundson came through for the Raiders with the walk-off hit to win the game 5-4 and keep their state hopes alive.

In a winner-to state game, they faced off against Rogers, who had earned the third seed from the SPSL through the league tournament.

From the very beginning, Rogers dominated the game. With a run already in, Sasha Killings launched a two-run home run to give the Rams a 3-0 lead in the first inning. They would add two more runs and lead 5-0 after one.

The Rams added three more in the bottom of the second.

After a four-run inning in the fourth, Rogers had built a 12-0 lead. That would be the final score; the Raiders were unable to produce much of anything in the game, which was called in five innings. They only managed two hits against Rogers pitcher Jessica O’Toole.

The Raiders finished the season with a 19-8 record.

Todd Beamer

Todd Beamer went to the district tournament hoping to put together another run and make their fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.

They faced off against Yelm in their first game, the same team that knocked them into the consolation bracket in a winner-to-state game last season.

The Tornados saw to it that history repeated itself this season. Yelm built a 10-0 lead over Beamer through four innings. The Titans managed to stay alive with a two-run fifth inning, but it didn’t matter. Yelm won 10-2.

Beamer faced Kentridge in the second game of the day. It got ugly for the Titans in the second inning when the Chargers scored four runs on two home runs to take a 4-1 lead.

Beamer tied the game up in the fourth, but Kentridge retook the lead at 5-4 in the fifth inning.

Another three-run home run in the the sixth inning bounced off the glove of a Beamer outfielder and pushed the lead to four. The Titans managed to score a couple in the seventh inning but ended up leaving runners on as their season ended in an 8-6 loss to the Chargers.

The Titans finish the year with a 14-11 record.