Courtesy article by Gerardo Bolong

RICHLAND - The chronicles of the 2015 Seattle Christian softball team came to an end in the last battle on the afternoon of May 30 at the Columbia Playfields in Richland.

District VI SCAC champion Connell outlasted District III champion Seattle Christian 13-11 to leave the Warriors as a top six 1A state participant out of 16 entries -- one win away from playing for third place/fourth place hardware -- with a final record of 18-6 following a 2-2 performance against the best in the state.

"We started slowly," said Seattle Christian head coach Rick Ronish. "It was a little bit of a left over from the semifinal loss."

Connell's Eagles fired off 13 runs against the Warrior's one entering the bottom of the second inning.
Systematically working its way back into contention, Seattle Christian nibbled away at Connell for single runs in each of innings two through four to trail only 10-4.

Continuing the road back, the Warriors touched the Eagles for a pair of fifth inning runs to draw within 10-6.

Starting pitcher Alyssa Baucom was victimized by numerous seeing eye hits and fortunate bounces from Connell in the first two innings, but recovered well to keep Seattle Christian in striking range.

The energetic Eagles scrambled for two runs in the top of the sixth before the home team Warriors staged a powerful bottom of the sixth charge.

Blasting away with everything it had, Seattle Christian struck for five runs to get within 12-11 after six complete innings. The Eagles added an important run in the top of the seventh inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Warriors threatened one more time, but left two runners stranded on base which underscores the fact that Seattle Christian left a total of 13 runners left on base.

Lisa Kumasaka batted 4-for-5, including a double, four RBI and two runs scored as part of the SC16-hit attack. Carlle Ronish batted 3-for-5 with three RBI and Kelli Ronish was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Taelor Willhoite slammed a double and scored two runs in a 2-for-5 day while Madisen Fors batted 2-for-5 and scored three runs.

For the tournament, Kumasaka won two games as pitcher, hit .630 (10 -for-16) with nine RBI while scoring four runs as one of the tournament standouts. Many others stood out for the Warriors as well. (See the articles entitled Seattle Christian wins state opener, Warriors nip La Center for state semi-final berth and Montesano stops Seattle Christian state title bid for more specifics).

Seattle Christian played with distinction as a family the entire season against top flight competition.

"As was the case all season, we had numerous contributors on our 17 player roster," continued head coach Ronish. "This group did everything under the sun to get better during the past 90 days. If we found ourselves in the other side of the bracket, perhaps we could have made the championship game. There were a lot of good teams and parity in the final 16 teams to state."

Words were difficult to find for coach Ronish to describe the strong love and support for the departing senior starts Alyssa Baucom and Taelor Willhoite, but a closer scrutiny of this season's on the field starters yielded excellent optimism for the future.

Three sophomores, two freshmen and just two seniors were on the field against La Center as starters.
Quality non-league opposition was featured with six opponents in state tournaments (Adna as 2B state champions and Montesano as 1A champions). Nine additional opponents played in district tournaments as well.

Playing up to that competition was valuable to the development of the team.

"We take pride being that 'little school in SeaTac'," observed Ronish. "Our Warrior teams are a 2B classification school playing in 1A. The next smallest school at state had 65 more students and some have a student body nearly three times bigger. Our teams love the competition and Warrior coaches really believe this helps our student athletes prepare for big games and life after high school."

Seattle Christian set the goals of Nisqually championship, district championship, playing on day two of the state tournament and winning the first place trophy.

With the first place trophy yet to be attained, the 15 returning players will shoot for it as well as the junior class looking forward to earning its fourth consecutive state tournament appearance.

"Our eye will remain on the prize," concluded Ronish. "Our wonderful coaching staff already has its focus on Feb. 29, 2016!"