Othello rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning last Saturday to hand defending state 2A baseball champion Ridgefield an 8-7 defeat in the title game of the 2003 WIAA tournament in Yakima.
The Trico Division- and District 4-winning Spudders trailed 4-0 after three innings, but pushed three runs across home plate in the top of the sixth for a 6-5 edge.
They added an insurance run in the top of the seventh and hoped it would be enough to give them their second consecutive state championship.
It wasn't.
The Huskies' lead-off hitter singled and, one out later, moved into scoring position when the next batter walked.
Othello tied it at 7 with a triple off the wall in left-center field. A single by the following batter changed Ridgefield's moniker from defending champion to runnerup.
"They took it from us," Spudders Coach Art Osmundson told the Vancouver Columbian. "We had two in a row and they took right out of our hands. That's what champions do."
Ridgefield, which hadn't lost a game since mid-May, finished the season 19-5.
Class 2A Softball:
In a matchup of S.W. Washington opponents, Montesano beat Ridgefield, 6-3, in the championship game last Saturday at Walla Walla Point Park in Wenatchee.
The Trico Division- and District 4-winning Spudders (23-3), the favorites to win the 2003 tournament, settled for second place for the second time in three years.
Montesano (22-4), meanwhile, won its second state title in three years and fourth in six.
Ridgefield scored the winning run with one gone in the bottom of the seventh to beat South Whidbey (22-1), last year's state runnerup, 3-2, in the semifinal round and advance to the 2003 title contest against Montesano.
The Bulldogs, winners of the Evergreen Division, pounded the Spudders -- who hadn't lost to a 2A team all year and hadn't given up more than three runs in a game -- for six runs on 10 hits.
Ridgefield's usually potent lineup managed just two hits and struck out 10 times.
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