The Thomas Jefferson Raiders are headed back to the Class 4A State Softball Tournament.
After two days of rain, the West Central District Tournament finally got underway Monday morning at the Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway and was set to conclude Tuesday night.
The Raiders (20-9) secured a spot at the state tournament Tuesday afternoon by beating Beamer, 8-7, and Central Kitsap, 10-5, in loser-out games. This will be TJ’s second straight trip to the state tournament and third in the last four seasons under head coach Chad Fahnlander. Last year, the Raiders finished 1-2 at state.
The Class 4A State Softball Tournament is set for Friday and Saturday at the South End Recreation Area (SERA) in Tacoma.
The Raiders finished 1-1 Monday at the district tournament. Jefferson beat up Bellarmine Prep in their opener, 11-1, before losing to Stadium in the quarterfinals, 5-2. The loss forced TJ to win two-straight, loser-out games Tuesday.
Against Beamer, Raider senior shortstop Hannah Kiyohara continued her impressive season by finishing 2 for 4 with three RBIs. The Louisville signee and South Puget Sound League North Division Most Valuable Plyer had home runs in both of TJ’s games on Monday.
Jefferson jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two runs in both the first and third innings. Beamer tightened the game to 4-3, before TJ scored four runs in the top of the sixth.
The Titans fought back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth, but couldn’t push the tying or winning runs across. The loss ended Beamer’s season with a 13-14 record.
The Raiders needed only six innings to beat the Bellarmine Prep Lions Monday morning. Jefferson pounded out 13 hits and scored two or more runs in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings.
Senior shortstop Hannah Kiyohara finished 3 for 4 with a home run and Christi Bruin ended up 2 for 2 with two runs. The Raiders also got two hits and two runs from Allie Crowe.
Katie Jackson picked up the victory on the mound, allowing six hits.
Against Stadium, the second-place team from the Narrows League, the Raiders managed only five hits and struck out 13 times against Heidy Wells.
The Tigers tallied three runs in the bottom of the first inning before TJ tallied two in the top of the third to tighten things back up on a two-run home run by Kiyohara.
But Stadium tacked on two more in the bottom of the inning and Wells held the Raiders scoreless in their final four at-bats. Kiyohara finished 2 for 3 and Bruin was 2 for 3 with a double.
Beamer finished 1-2 at the West Central District Tournament. The Titans were dropped into the loser’s bracket Monday with an 11-7 loss to South Kitsap in their opener.
Beamer then fought back by blowing out Spanaway Lake, 15-0, to earn a spot in the loser-out game with Jefferson Tuesday.
The Titans pounded out 17 hits in the six innings against Spanaway Lake and scored seven runs in the top of the sixth inning. Sarah Petosa, Taylor Winton and Brianne Grosche all had three hits and Emma Blauser finished with two hits and also got the win on the mound, allowing only three hits.
