UPDATED 3:45 p.m. May 23

The Chimacum High School softball team qualified for the state 1A tourney with a 4-1 district tourney win Monday against Klahowya. Weather delayed the district tourney games from Saturday to Monday.

The Lady Cowboys receive the district's No. 3 seed to state. Due to weather in Tacoma, the championship game between Bellevue Christian and Seattle Christian was not played Monday; that game's loser was to play Chimacum to decide the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.

Now, Nisqually League champion Seattle Christian is district champ, Bellevue Christian (an 18-7 upset winner over Olympic League champ Chimacum) is No. 2, and Chimacum is No. 3.

The state tourney is May 27-28 at Columbia Playfield in Richland. See the BRACKET.

Chimacum starts Friday with a noon game against Omak (11-7), Caribou League champions. The game’s winner plays at 4 p.m. and the loser at 2 p.m., against either Lynden Christian (15-5) or La Center (20-0).

Quilcene opens state softball vs Liberty Christian

The Quilcene Lady Rangers begin state 1B softball action at 1 p.m. Friday, May 27 in Yakima against Liberty Christian. Win or lose in the first round, Quilcene plays a 5 p.m. game against either Wishkah Valley or Pomeroy.

The eight-team, double-elimination tourney is played at the Gateway Sports Complex. See the BRACKET.

The other state tourney teams are Rainier Christian, Colton, Almira Coulee Hartline and Sunnyside Christian.

UPDATED 6:30 p.m. May 22

SOFTBALL:  Chimacum's 1A district game against Klahowya has been postponted until 1 p.m. Monday at Sprinker Fields in Tacoma; winner to state, loser out.

UPDATED 6:10 p.m. May 21

SOFTBALL: Quilcene won the 1B district championship with a 10-0 victory May 21 against visiting Rainier Christian. The Lady Rangers advance to the state 1B tourney May 27-28 at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima. The state bracket of game times and opponents won’t be available until Sunday.

BASEBALL: Quilcene’s season ended Saturday with a 5-2 loss to Naselle in the opening round of the state 1B baseball tourney. Last week in a district tourney game, Quilcene had defeated Naselle 2-1.

Also at Anacortes, Evergreen Lutheran doubled Shoreline Christian 6-3, and then defeated Naselle 2-1 to earn a slot in the state 1B championship game May 28 against Colton.

UPDATED 8:45 a.m. May 21

Chimacum’s softball team faces a winner-to-state, loser-out 1A district tourney game to be played Sunday in Tacoma. The district games originally slated to be played Saturday, May 21, have all been postponed until Sunday, May 22 at the Sprinker Fields complex.

Friday, May 20, the Lady Cowboys were upset 18-7 by Bellevue Christian. Meanwhile, Seattle Christian had downed Klahowya, 10-4.

Chimacum and Klahowya meet at 2 p.m. Sunday, with the victor advancing to the tourney consolation game at 4 p.m. Sunday, against the title game loser. The consolation game winner advances to the state tourney.

The Quilcene softball girls host Rainier Christian at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 21 for the 1B district title. The game’s loser also advances to the state tourney.

UPDATED 8:50 p.m. May 18

Quilcene defeated Naselle 10-0 in five innings May 18 to earn a berth in the district championship game, 1 p.m. May 21 in Quilcene. The Lady Rangers face Rainier Christian, a 14-10 winner over Wishkah Valley.

In regular season Sea-Tac League action, Quilcene defeated Rainier Christian 16-0 on March 29 and 18-7 on May 5.

Wishkah Valley and Naselle play Saturday in a loser-out, winner to state game.

ORIGINAL STORY MAY 18

The Quilcene baseball team is the first to punch a ticket to a state tourney, with Chimacum and Quilcene softball teams having that same opportunity this week. Here is the high school ball wrap as of May 16:

BASEBALL

QUILCENE

The Quilcene Rangers won the 1B district championship with an “official” 1-0 rainout victory Saturday against Evergreen Lutheran.

The teams played one complete inning May 14 in Bremerton, before rain led umpires to call the game. The Rangers were leading 8-2, and the respective coaches agreed that Quilcene should retain the No. 1 seed, with Evergreen getting the No. 2 seed into the 8-team state tourney bracket.

The Rangers (15-4) advance to a first-round state tourney game, 2 p.m. Saturday, May 21 against Naselle (5-6) at Daniels Field in Anacortes. A victory in that game brings a state semi-final game later that day at the same field against either Evergreen Lutheran (10-6) or Shoreline Christian (11-9), with the winner advancing to the state 1B championship contest 4 p.m. May 28 at Wheeler Field in Centralia.

Quilcene last reached a state baseball tourney in 2013. In six trips to state, Quilcene has a record of 1-6.

In a loser-out, winner to state game May 10, Quilcene bombed Seattle Lutheran 16-1. May 12, the Rangers edged Naselle 2-1. Both games were played on the junior diamond at Bob Bates Field, the East Jefferson Little League’s home in Port Hadlock.

Evergreen Lutheran reached the district final with wins of 5-1 over Oakville and 18-6 over Shoreline Christian. Shoreline took the district’s third seed to state with an 8-2 win over Naselle.

In the playoff game against Seattle Lutheran, senior Eli Harrison pitched a no-hitter.

"Eli Harrison pitched the best game he's pitched for us," coach Darrin Dotson reported. "The runners that got on base were due to walks and one fielding error. No balls were hit to the outfield or past the infield."

Quilcene had split a regular season doubleheader against Seattle Lutheran, with only 7 hits combined

"We took a different approach in our batting at our last practice; made the boys be more selective in the beginning of the count and looked to attack the ball deeper in the count," Dotson said. "Results were night and day, we had 11 hits and 8 walks and 4 strikeouts. Where in the game we lost to Seattle earlier in the season we had 1 hit, 4 walks and 11 strikeouts."

STATS: AJ Prater 2-2, 3B, 2 walks, 3 runs. Eli Harrison 1-1, 3 walks, 2 RBI, 3 runs. Ben Bruner 1-2 2B, walk, 3 runs. Nate Weller 1-4, 2 RBI. Andy Johnston 2-3, 2B, walk, 2 RBI, 2 runs. Jarod Smith 1-3, walk, RBI, run. Eli Mahan 0-1, walk, run. Olin Reynolds 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, run. James Soderberg 2-3, 2 runs. Pitching: Harrison 10 strikeouts, 4 walks, no hits, run.

In the 2-1 win against Naselle, Quilcene manufactured a run in the fourth inning when Harrison was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a fielding error at third base.

The difference in the game was the errors: Quilcene made one, Naselle made six.

“The boys battled and never got down,” Dotson said. “Games that are close like this are usually decided by who makes the most errors.”

STATS: AJ Prater 1-2, run; Eli Harrison 0-2, run; Ben Bruner 1-3; Nate Weller 0-2, Andy Johnston 0-2, walk; Jarod Smith 1-3, Zach Collins 1-3. Pitching: Andy Johnston 5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 hit batter, 1 run.

In the one inning of action May 14 against Evergreen Lutheran, the Rangers batted around with key hits being doubles by Ben Bruner, Nate Weller and Andy Johnston.

Now, entering the state tourney with two games in one day, the Rangers must decide how to set up the pitching staff with two of the possible three opponents being familiar teams.

SOFTBALL

QUILCENE

Quilcene has reached the state 1B fastpitch tourney five consecutive seasons, and intends to make it six.

The 1B Lady Rangers (8-0 league, 17-2 overall) concluded the regular season with wins over higher classification schools, defeating 2A Kingston 5-1 on May 9, rolling over 2B Darrington 12-1 May 11, and taking down 2B North Beach 15-8 on May 13.

District tourney action for Quilcene begins Wednesday, May 18 in Quil against the victor of a May 16 game between Naselle and Evergreen Lutheran. The May 18 winner plays 1 p.m. May 21 for the district title; the May 18 loser plays May 21 for the district’s third and final berth into the 1B state tourney, May 27-28 at Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima. Both May 21 games are in Quilcene.

Bailey Kieffer tossed a 1-hitter at Kingston in a 5-1 victory. “Bailey did a great job moving the ball around and keeping their hitters off balance,” said coach Mark Thompson. “Our defense after the 2nd inning did a great job behind her.”

The Rangers offense, not used to seeing 2A caliber pitching, took a few innings to get started. In the 4th, Erin Macedo's RBI double scored Megan Weller for the game’s first run and Macedo scored on a Bailey Kieffer sacrifice fly. In the 5th M. Weller stroked a single to score pinch runner Katie Love and Alex Johnsen scored on a sac fly by Macedo to stretch the lead to 4-0. Another M. Weller RBI in the 7th finished the scoring. “We had a few focus errors in the first 2 innings that almost cost us, but Bailey did a great job keeping the damage to none," Thompson reported. "After that our defense was lights out.”

STATS: M. Weller 3-4, 2RBI; Macedo 2-3, 2B, 2RBI; Kieffer 1-2, RBI; Abby Weller 1-2; Gray 1-2.

Quilcene broke open a close game at Darrington on May 11, scoring 8 runs in the 5th inning en route to a 12-1 victory. Macedo’s 2-run single highlighted the inning, along with hits from M. Weller, Johnsen, and Love. Kieffer spun a 3-hitter for her 12th victory, with Darrington’s run resulting from the Rangers’ only error.

STATS: Johnsen 1-2, RBI; M. Weller 2-4, 3R, RBI; Macedo 1-4, RBI; Bailey 2-2, 3 RBI; Love 2-3, RBI.

Quilcene finished the week by overcoming visiting North Beach 15-8. The combined record for the respective league title teams was 34-3. The Rangers struck first, scoring 11 runs on 10 hits in the first inning.

“We have been slow starting out as of late, [and] it was nice to see us come out hitting like this,” said Thompson. “It’s a good thing, because a team like North Beach is never out of the game.”

North Beach rallied in the 4th, scoring 6 runs on 6 hits and also capitalizing on Ranger errors. Quilcene replied with 2 runs in the home half, with Allison Jones delivering another RBI single to score M. Weller. “They couldn't get Allison out,” said Thompson. “She was the MVP of the game for sure.”

Kieffer went the distance for her 13th win, striking out 9, and closed the game with 3 scoreless innings to stop North Beach’s 4th inning momentum. “Her pitch count got up there after the 4th, but that was when she pitched her best. Facing a team like this is great in her continuing development as an elite pitcher,” said Thompson.

STATS: Johnsen 2-5, RBI; M. Weller 2-4, 3B, 2RBI; Macedo 2-3, 2B, 2RBI; Bailey 2-5, 2B, RBI; Jones 4-5, 2B, 3RBI; Kieffer 1-5, RBI; Madison Coffey, 3-4, 3B, 2RBI; Love 2-3.

CHIMACUM

Chimacum’s bid for an undefeated 1A Olympic League season was derailed by an 8-7 loss to Klahowya May 10.

The Lady Cowboys (8-1 league, 12-5 overall) are slotted into a district tourney softball game at 8 p.m. Friday, May 20 under the lights at Sprinker Fields in Tacoma. The first-round opponent is the winner of a 6 p.m. May 20 game between Coupeville (8-10) and Bellevue Christian (13-6).

The Cowboys have two chances to win one game and a trip to the state 1A softball tourney, May 27-28 at Columbia Playfield in Richland.

Coach Junior Roberts reported the game against Klahowya was a tough loss, with 17 hits but too many runners stranded.

“Our batters got a little too impatient in key moments of the game, something that I need to do a better job of teaching,” he said. “I'm hoping the team learns from this hard loss and that they gain strength from it for our next game.”

Roberts said they are excited for the district tournament, “and this week my coaching staff and I are going to stress the importance of completing one play at a time, fundamentals and just having fun while in the moment of playoff softball.”

STATS vs Klahowya: Bradyn Nelson 2-3, 2B (2), R, RBI; Shanya Nisbet 2-5, 2B, 2R, 2RBI; Ryley Eldridge 1-5, R, RBI; Mechelle Nisbet 3-4, RBI; Taylor Carthum 3-4, R; Kyah McKinlay 2-4, RBI; Kelle Settje 1-4, R; Holly Snider 0-1; Grace Yaley 2-4, R; Maddie Dowling 1-3, RBI. Pitching: Eldridge 7IP, 5H, 13BB, 10K, 1HB, 189 pitches.

STATS from May 4 vs Port Townsend: Nelson 1-2, 2R; S. Nisbet 1-1, 2R, 3RBI; Eldridge 0-2, 3R, 4RBI; M. Nisbet 3-3, 3R 2B (3), 4RBI; Carthum 0-0, R; McKinlay 0-1, 2R, RBI; Settje 0-2, R, RBI; Snider 0-3, R; Yaley 0-0, R; Nicole Cerna 0-2, 2R; Amelia Foster 0-2. Pitching: Eldridge 4BB, 8K, R; Nelson 1H, 4BB, 6R; Snider 1H, B, 2K.