EPHRATA – The Ephrata Tigers softball team finished their season with an overall record of 20-10, earning third in districts and making the state tournament. 

“At the beginning of the season, we as a team set our team goals for the year,” said Tigers head coach Heather Wood. “They have a top five that they always aim for and so theirs was district champs, league champs, make it to state, second day of state, and then developing a family.” 

The Tigers started the season, only losing three seniors last year, but struggled here and there with players stepping into positions they hadn’t played before, said Wood.

“We didn’t have to rebuild, we just had to reaffiliate ourselves with each other,” said the coach. 

The team started the season slowly as they came into game four of the season 0-3, but followed that with a three-game win streak and by the first week of April sat at 4-5. Then, in the midseason, the girls pulled off a 10-game win streak and finished the regular season at 15-6, putting them as the number three seed in the district tournament. 

Wood said that the team showed improvement from last year as they stayed competitive even in games where they lost.   

“A lot of our losses were that we faced a better team and then you make adjustments on how do we take that next time when we play these guys,” she said. “You just always reassess after each game.” 

Despite not making their goal of becoming league champs, they could still fall back on some of the other goals that they had set for themselves, said Wood. Going into the postseason, they aimed for their next goal of becoming district champs and making the state tournament. 

In the district tournament, they first played against East Valley, where they fell 3-2 and moved on to play against Prosser, where they earned a 15-5 victory. The Tigers played Selah in the final four, which ended in a 3-5 loss, sending them to the third-place game against Othello, where they won 7-6, sending them to a crossover game against Spokane, where they won 17-1 to make the state tournament. 

The Tigers would fall in the first round of the state tournament to Olympic, putting them into consolation, where they would play to the quarterfinals before being eliminated, but still made their goals of both making state and going into day two of the tournament. Wood said she is impressed with the girls’ performance, as this is the first time they have experienced a 30-game season and the first time she has coached a team that has made the second day in the state. 

“They like to do the things that someone hasn’t done before,” she said. “When we got to state, I said, ‘Are we going to set a goal and make it to the second day because no team that I’ve ever coached has made it to second day,’ so their goal was making it to second day no matter what.” 

The Tigers will be graduating five seniors after this season, who were all key starters for the team this year. Wood said that the next season will be another case where the team won’t be rebuilding but rather restructuring the core of what they have. 

    Tigers’ pitcher Alexa Durfee on the mound in the state tournament. The team went on a 10-game win streak toward the middle of the season.
  

    Tigers’ Jaemyson Durfee batting against the Othello Huskies during their battle for third place in the division to move on to state. The Tigers will be graduating five seniors after this season and are planning to restructure the team next year.
  

    Jaeda Gonzalez batting for the Tigers in the third-place divisional game against the Othello Huskies. The team had set multiple goals throughout the season with the main one being to make it into the state tournament.
  

    In a double header against the Quincy Jacks during the regular season, Kylee Roduner is seen sprinting to first. The Tigers finished third in the CWAC and third in the district tournament.
  

    Olivia Bicondova pitching for the Tigers in a double header against the Quincy Jacks. Coach Heather Wood said the team was excited to face the challenge of being the first team under her coaching to make day two at the state tournament.