RICHLAND — The Royal Knights (20-7) defeated the Klahowya Eagles 10-9 after a walk-off line drive in the bottom of the eighth inning of the opening round of the 1A state softball tournament Thursday. In her first time coaching a game into extra innings, Head Coach Lisa Lawrence was all smiles.  

“I'm just so proud of the girls. This team has always battled, and they battle to the end, and they sure did today,” Lawrence said.  

After a rocky start resulting in the Knights falling behind 0-3, they rallied in the third and fourth innings with eight runs to take the lead. However, the Eagles bounced back with four runs of their own to cut the deficit to one. After a run in the sixth inning provided some breathing room, but Klahowya responded with two runs to force extra innings. After the Knights defense held strong in the top of the eighth, they managed to score a run to seal the win. 

“They really have a relentless mentality,” Lawrence said. “Nothing gets them down. It starts with our seniors who really lead the way. They've seen a lot of highly competitive ball, and so when going gets tough, they persevere and lead the way.” 

By the bottom of the third inning, a single run and a homer that scored two players put the Eagles ahead of the Knights by three. Showing they weren’t rattled, the Knights offense erupted for eight unanswered runs through the bottom of the fourth inning.  

Paige Christensen, Leah Christensen, Jill Allred, Emerson Eilers and Livi Wardenaar all got home on multiple occasions to give them a commanding 8-3 lead. As momentum seemed to have shifted, Klahowya strung together four runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 8-7. The two teams went scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when Kylee Orth got home to give Royal some breathing room at 9-7.  

The Knights were in position to close out the game in the top of the seventh after Allred’s pitching logged two outs against the Eagles. However, a flyball helped Klahowya score two runners to tie the game before Royal earned the third out.  

The Knights started strong in the bottom of the seventh after Wardenaar doubled on a line drive. At one point the bases were loaded, but Klahowya’s defense forced three outs and the two teams headed into extra innings.  

Allred put together another strong inning in the pitching circle, knocking down three straight batters with a disciplined defense behind her to help out.  

Back on offense, the Knights slowly got runners on base. With bases loaded once again, Wardenaar stepped up to bat and singled on a line drive which scored Sarah Bergeson. With that score, the Knights dugout cleared as they celebrated a hard-fought win to advance in the state tournament.  

Allred pitched all eight innings, allowing nine runs, three walks and striking out 10 batters on 135 pitches.  

“She's just tremendous, and (Klahowya is) a good hitting team, and they got some hits on her, and she just kept battling... she just keeps us in all the games,” Lawrence said.  

Royal advances to the quarterfinals where they will play the number one seeded Montesano at 1 p.m. Friday. In the meantime, they will enjoy the win and turn their focus to the next round. 

“At state anything can happen, and we always go into it with a clean slate. It's all good teams, and we're a good team too, and we’ll just see what we can do,” said Lawrence.  

BOX SCORE: 

KLHW: 0-2-1-0-4-0-2-0: 9 

ROYL: 0-0-4-4-0-1-0-1: 10 

    Jill Allred (6) looks at the pitching call before her next throw. Allred struck out 10 batters in the Knights state tournament win Thursday.
  

    Hali Christensen fields a ground ball before throwing it to first base to record the out.
  

    Livi Wardenaar (4) celebrates after doubling on a line drive against Klahowya Thursday.
  

    Lizzie Jenks (13) steps up to bat for the Royal Knights during their state tournament game against Klahowya on Thursday.