PORTLAND, OR – The Washington LadyHawks (Seely, WA) defeated Thunder Softball (Hillsboro, OR) 5-4 to win the 16U Western Regional Softball Tournament, held July 18-20, at the William V. Owens Softball Complex in Portland, OR.
The LadyHawks started their drive to the regional berth with an opening round 9-8 win over Oregon SilverBullets. They followed that with a 5-3 win over Black Tornado (Medford, OR) and a 5-0 win over Vancouver Fastpitch.

After beating Vancouver Frost 4-1, the LadyHawks squeaked by Montesano (WA) Bulldogs 8-7 and into the semi-finals. There, they met the Thunder and pulled out a 2-1 win, sending the Thunder to the loser’s bracket. The Thunder defeated Central Oregon Voodoo to get to the title game and a chance at avenging their earlier loss to the LadyHawks.
In the championship game, the Thunder struck in the first. Heather Muessen led off the game with a double and scored on Montana McNeely’s single for a quick 1-0 lead. The Lady Hawks made sure it didn’t last when Elsa Moyer led off with a double, stole third and scored on Austin Wilkerson’s single to tie the game at 1-1.

The LadyHawks took the lead in the third when Ashley Pool walked, moved to second on Wilkerson’s single and scored on Katie Bloomgren’s single for a 2-1 lead.

The Thunder tied it at 2-2 in the fourth when Melissa Miller led off with a single and scored on Cora Schaefer’s double. They LadyHawks pushed the lead to 3-2 in the fifth when Aliah Cox singled, moved to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on Marrika Benson’s single. The Thunder tied it at 3-3 in the seventh when Chelsea Eytel led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on Schaefer’s single.

Going to extra innings (and the international tiebreaker), the Thunder’s Heather Muessen started at second base, moved to third on Brook Vanartsdalen’s single and scored on Eytel’s fielder’s choice and a 4-3 lead.

The LadyHawks started with Benson on second. After Katrina Hargrave walked, Benson was erased at third on Aris Califano’s fielder’s choice. Hargrave was next to be erased at third on Elsa Moyer’s fielder’s choice. With two outs and runners at first and second, pinch-hitter Ronnie Mae Ayers lined a single to center field. Califano scored when the throw from center field skipped by the Thunder catcher, which allowed Moyer to score all the way from first base (with a head-first dive) and score the winning run.