RICHLAND — Revenge was served up hot on Saturday, May 27.

Montesano defeated La Center, 8-2, in the Class 1A state championship game at Columbia Playfields in Richland. The win gave Montesano its ninth title and second championship in three years.

The title game was a rematch of last year’s state championship, but this time the Bulldogs ensured a much different ending.

“(Last year’s title game) was in the back of our minds,” Montesano senior Josie Toyra said. “It has been a thing the whole year ‘Expect La Center in the championship game’ and what do you know, it happened. We executed, every single one of us.”

The Bulldogs beat rival Hoquiam, 10-2, in the semifinal to earn a spot in the title game against the Wildcats.

Montesano managed to stay cool at the plate under the pressure of the tournament and the warm weather to overcome an uncharacteristic number of defensive errors.

The Bulldog offense remained the constant it had been during the entire tournament. Montesano scored runs in the first inning in all four games, pushing two across in the title tilt. The knockout blow was delivered by the Bulldogs in the second inning when they were able to drive across five runs.

Despite Montesano committing four of its six errors in the final five innings, the Bulldogs continued to shut the door on the Wildcats and it would be Montesano posing with the large trophy in the outfield.

“With a team like La Center, we knew we couldn’t give them runs and we probably played one of our worst defensive games all year, but our offense just rolled and it has really done that all season,” Montesano head coach Pat Pace said.

Montesano’s offense heated up in the first inning. After Samantha Stanfield was hit by a pitch to start the game and Lindsay Pace earned a walk, Peyton Poler delivered the first of her four hits in the contest to drive in Monte’s first run. A pop fly by Allyssa Gustafson moments later scored Lindsay Pace to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 after one inning, but the Wildcats struck back.

La Center took advantage of a leadoff walk and two defensive errors by the Bulldogs to push two runs across in the second inning and tie the game up. However, the tie would be short-lived as Montesano came up with a string of hits to rally back.

Toyra reached on a defensive error by the Wildcats to start the inning. After a single by Stanfield, La Center chose to intentionally walk Lindsay Pace, who had a home run against the Wildcats in the District IV title game, to load up the bases for Poler. The lefty catcher delivered with a hard hit ball back up the middle to score what would be the game-winning runs.

“Sam, Lindsay and Peyton have been going up and down for the batting title all season and to intentionally walk one of them to bring another one up with the bases loaded is costly,” Pat Pace said. “We told Peyton before she went up ‘They are trying to get to you’ and I think she went up there with a mental mindset that they weren’t going to beat her.”

Gustafson kept the hit train rolling with a triple to drive two more runs in before Cheyann Bartlett singled to drive in Gustafson and cap the rally.

“The whole team knew going into this one that it was going to be a tough one, but we didn’t feel any pressure,” Bartlett said. “We always were confident. Coach told us (after La Center scored) that it was our game and we had a lot of game left and we answered right back. It felt so good.”

While the Bulldogs added one more run in the third when Linghong Schoch tagged on a fly, La Center pitcher Abigail England kept Montesano off balance with off-speed pitches the rest of the game.

Defensively, Stanfield was able to pitch to contact and let her defense work behind her to get the victory. While Montesano committed six errors in the game, La Center finished with just two hits. Senior Hannah Quinn flashed some leather on the last play of the game to field a hard hit ball and throw quickly over to Gustafson at first to start the celebration.

“Last year, we knew we could have won it, but we are just happy that we were able to come back,” Gustafson said. “My senior class, being able to win it twice in our four years means a lot to us and we are happy to make our mark on the program.”

Bulldogs 10, Grizzlies 2

The fourth meeting between rivals Hoquiam and Montesano was more heated than the dirt at Columbia Playfields, but the Bulldogs cooled off the Grizzlies early and rolled to victory.

Montesano’s bats warmed up in the first inning to score six runs and take away the momentum from the Grizzlies. Hoquiam was able to capitalize on errors to get two runs back in the first inning, but from there Stanfield slammed the door on the Grizzlies allowing no hits and just two walks over the final six innings.

“I thought Hoquiam did a really good job putting the ball in play today and I think that caught Sam off guard,” Pat Pace said. “After she worked through that, she was able to get her fastball on the corners a bit more and that is the pitch that got her through this game. Offensively, we get up to face Hoquiam. We’ve come out that first inning and the intensity has been so high and they’ve been so aggressive at the plate that we expect it now. When they have that mental confidence, the ball looks so much bigger.”

Stanfield doubled to lead off the inning, but wouldn’t come around to score. However, she sparked the Bulldogs offense, which was able to put up the first run on back-to-back singles from Poler and Gustafson. Cristelli drove a ball through the left side to score them both and give the Bulldogs the eventual game-winning runs. Past balls and wild pitches allowed two more runs to score in the inning with Toyra driving a run home between them.

“You can’t start out that way against a team like that,” Hoquiam head coach Keith Reynvaan said. “We just didn’t come out to play well at the beginning. The rest of the game we played pretty well. If it could go wrong in the first inning, it went wrong.”

Hoquiam cashed in on the Bulldogs early defensive miscues with Maya Jump getting on to lead off the inning on a misplayed bunt. She would come around to score on a wild pitch. Maddie German followed Jump with a single to right field and came around to score on a defensive error by Montesano.

Cristelli drove in two more runs on a deep single in the second inning. Monte put together a string of five singles from Lindsay Pace, Poler, Gustafson, Bartlett and Cristelli in the sixth inning to drive in two more runs and cap the scoring for the Bulldogs.

Stanfield found her rhythm in the circle and struck out the side in the third. The junior recorded 12 strikeouts in the contest.

Monte 620 002 0 — 10 15 2 Hoquiam 200 000 0 — 2 1 2

Stanfield and Poler; Hyde, Parshall (6) and German.

RBI: Montesano — Cristelli 5, Gustafson, Bartlett. Hoquiam — Papp. Four hits: Montesano — Poler. Three hits: Montesano — Cristelli. Two hits: Montesano — Toyra, Gustafson. Doubles: Montesano — Stanfield, Poler.

Winning pitcher — Stanfield (12 strikeouts, two walks). Losing pitcher — Hyde (three strikeouts, three walks).

La Cent 020 000 0 — 2 2 2 Monte 251 000 X — 8 12 6

Stanfield and Poler; England and Muffett.

RBI: La Center — Johnston 2. Montesano — Poler 3, Gustafson 3, Bartlett 2. Four hits: Montesano — Poler. Two hits: Montesano — Stanfield, Cristelli. Triples: Montesano — Gustafson. Doubles: Montesano — Toyra, Kersker.

Winning pitcher — Stanfield (two strikeouts, one walk). Losing pitcher — England (two strikeouts, four walks).