Vikings bag third-place trophy after big comeback in last game

Garfield/Palouse roared back for a 12-run charge in the last inning to capture the third-place 1B trophy at Yakima's Gateway Park. The final-inning blast ended a strong playoff charge for the Vikings who qualified for the trophy round after stopping Sunnyside Christian in a close game.

Garfield/Palouse girls Saturday ended their 1B playoff charge with the third-place state trophy.

They also finished with an unofficial honor: the battle back award for responding to a challenge to the greatest extent.

Against Selkirk in Saturday’s trophy game at Yakima, the Vikings staked an early two-run lead and extended it to 4-0 with two more in the top of the fifth.

Selkirk came alive to score four in the bottom of the inning and then took the lead, 5-4, with one more run in the bottom of the sixth.

That meant the Vikings had to get at least one run to keep the game going in the top of the seventh.

They scored 12 runs on 10 hits.

After the dust had cleared, the Vikes had a 16-5 win an the third-place trophy.

The explosion win capped a 3-1 run for the Vikings at Gateway to finish a 6-3 run on the playoffs.

“We had a good run at the end of the season,” Coach Steve Witthun commented.

The Vikes rolled out 18 hits in their last game with Erin Witthuhn and Sammie Johnson both going 4-5 with a pair of doubles.

Madi Woltering singled and doubled and Chandler Pfaff tripled and singled.

The Vikings went into the trophy game after a 4-0 Saturday elimination win over Sunnyside Christian, a team which also put Colton to the test on the first day of the tourney.

The Viking-SC game went scoreless for four innings before the Vikings broke it open with two runs in the top of the fifth.

Johnson and McKenzie McClanahan started it with singles and Emily Witthuhn tripled to centerfield for two RBIs and a Viking lead.

The Vikes came back with two more in the seventh when Johnson tripled and McClanahan hit to a Knights error to score Johnson.

McClanahan scored the last run in the 4-0 win on a passed ball.

Emily Witthuhn, who held the Knights to six hits, struck out the side in the bottom of seventh to seal the win which put the Vikings into the trophy round.

Friday, Garfield/Palouse started with a 16-2 slam of Wishkah Valley in the first round.

The Vikes had 11 hits and Emily Witthuhn held the Loggerettes to five hits.

She fanned eight batters in the opener.

The Vikings then ran into Almira-Coulee-Hartline after the Warriors smoked a 35-7 win in their first round game.

ACH advanced to the championship round on a 4-0 shutout.

Warrior Pitcher Madeline Isaak held the Vikings to three hits.

The Vikings finished with a 13-11 season with a 6-3 run at the end.

They will lose Woltering, Erin and Emily Witthuhn and Tiona Shea to graduation, but figure to have a lot of talent back for another charge next year.