WHITE SALMON — The Columbia High School (CHS) softball team is headed to the 2026 WIAA 1A state softball tournament after a six-game stretch in the District 4 tournament, May 15 and 16 at Fort Burst Park in Centralia, Washington.
Columbia started the tournament beating La Center High School, 20-6, on May 15, then lost to Seton Catholic, 11-1, that same day. CHS then beat King’s Way Christian 13-7 on May 16, beat Hoquiam High School ,10-8, lost to Lynden Christian, 17-0, and beat Nooksack Valley High School, 17-12, to finish out the tournament in an elimination game and earn a berth to state.
The fifth-seeded Bruins (17-9) had a dominant performance against the 12th-seeded Wildcats (8-14). La Center scored three runs in the first, but CHS responded with two in the bottom of the first before Julia Mullinix hit a three-run home run to make it 5-3 Bruins after one. From there, it was all Colombia as the Bruins rallied off 15 more runs to seal the win.
Columbia then took on the Cougars (21-3), who limited the Bruins to a lone run.
The next day, in a loser-out game, the King’s Way Christian Knights (9-10) started hot by scoring five runs in the second inning. It took the Bruins until the fifth inning to respond, but they did by scoring nine straight runs — spurred by a three-run home run from Joella Posini. The Bruins added four more runs while King’s Way could only add two the rest of the way.
Later that day, the Bruins took on the Grizzlies (12-11) in a loser-out game, where Fiona Grabb hit a two-run RBI single to give Columbia a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth. From there, the Bruins added three more runs to Hoquiam’s two to take the win.
The Lynden Christian Lyncs (15-10) shut out Columbia, sending it to the final consolation game - with a berth to the state tournament on the line. Columbia and Pioneers (14-12) from Nooksack Valley battled back and forth in a high-scoring contest, but Columbia ultimately pulled out the win, outhitting the Pioneers, 21-16.
The district is sending five teams to the 1A fastpitch softball state tournament May 21-23 at Columbia Playfields in Richland, Washington: Montesano, Elma, Seton Catholic, Lynden Christian and Columbia. The 11th-seeded Bruins start state tournament play against the No. 6 seed Lynden Christian at 3 p.m. on May 21.
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