COULEE CITY — After a hard-fought battle through the 1B District 6 tournament, the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors finished out as third in districts and punched their ticket into the state tournament. Entering as the third seed, the Warriors look to continue their success into the coming weekend. 

“It’s pretty great, we’re feeling pretty good,” said Warriors Head Coach Faye Butler. “We had conversations at the beginning of the season like, ‘What’s your goal for this year,’ and they’re like, ‘We want to get to state,’ and I said, ‘What do you want to do at state,’ and we came to the conclusion that we want to be in the top four teams. It gives us a lot of confidence that we can totally do this, so super exciting, we’re super thrilled.” 

After earning a first-round bye in the district tournament, the Warriors played Liberty Christian on Saturday afternoon. Liberty Christian gained a significant lead early on as the team put up five runs in the first inning and two runs in the second.  

Liberty Christian put up an additional five runs in the top of the fourth before ACH responded with two runs scored off a single from Grace Erickson and a ground out by Dani Isaak. In the bottom of the fifth, the Warriors added another two runs after Emma Brummett hit an inside the park home run.  

Despite gaining momentum in the middle of the game, ACH was unable to close the gap and the game ended with a 4-12 loss to Liberty Christian. 

Grace Okamoto from the Warriors pitched all seven innings against Liberty Christian where she allowed 12 runs, 19 hits and two walks while striking out four. Okamoto led ACH in batting with three hits in four at bats from the leadoff position. 

“(Liberty Christian) they’re just a beast of a team, they’re really great,” said Butler. “I would say we did pretty well against them ... it was a great game just to play against them because it is a lot more pressure and it’s good for my girls just to feel that pressure. I think it’s going to get them ready for (state).” 

ACH got right back onto the diamond to face Wilbur-Creston-Keller that same afternoon, with both teams guaranteed a spot on the state bracket. WCK got on the board in the top of the first inning with two runs. 

The Warriors earned their first runs of the game in the bottom of the third inning with a single from Maddison Brink scoring both Okamoto and Josie Bayless.  

ACH gained seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to claim the lead with a single by Savannah Monson scoring one, a double from Okamoto scoring one, a triple by Bayless scoring two, a triple by Brink scoring one and a single by Erickson scoring one. 

The Warriors solidified their victory in the bottom of the sixth as Erickson singled to score S Whitaker and Okamoto doubled on a fly ball to score Erickson and Monson, closing out the game 12-2. 

Okamoto once again pitched for the duration of the game for ACH where she allowed five hits, two runs and one walk while striking out seven batters. Brink led the team offensively as she collected four hits in four at bats. 

“They really came around in our second game against Wilbur-Creston and we took care of business,” said Butler. “That got their confidence back up and just reinforcing that (the Warriors) are a good team.” 

She said the driving factor for success with this junior heavy team is the love of the game that each player has.  

“The girls love softball, we have a lot of fun,” said the coach. “The juniors I have, when they were freshmen that was the first year I coached them, so I’ve really been working with this group and they’re kind of my main crew on the team.” 

With each passing year she has seen this team get more excited about playing and as they approach the state tournament this season, Butler said the girls are eager to get better and be more competitive. With a week to prepare for the state tournament, the coach wants the team to stay emotionally levelheaded and iron out the basics. 

“At this point we know what we know, and we aren’t going to do big gains in one week of practice,” she said. “It’s just, ‘Hey, let’s just keep being tried and true to where we’re at and keep going from there.” 

The Warriors begin state play at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima on Friday in the quarterfinals where they will face the winner of the Muckleshoot Tribal and Colton game at 1 p.m.  

BOX SCORES 

GAME ONE 

LBTY: 5-2-0-5-0-0-0: 12 

ACHW: 0-0-0-2-2-0-0: 4 

GAME TWO 

WCKR: 2-0-0-0-0-0-x: 2 

ACHW: 0-0-2-7-0-3-x: 12 

    Warriors sophomore Savannah Monson steps up to bat during a game earlier this season.
  

    Dani Isaak, a junior from ACH, gets ready to swing at a pitch earlier in the season while on the road.
  

    ACH senior Peyton Roberts gets into batting position during a previous road game.