4/16/26

(Chehalis, WA) Wednesday, April 1st was when the Centralia Tigers were supposed to make the trip to Recreation Park in Chehalis to take on their rivals in the WF West Bearcats in the first of three fastpitch meetings of the year. That game was rained out and moved to the next day. That one would be cancelled due to a lack of umpires and moved to April 14th, after Spring Break. Washington weather had other plans as it was rained out yet again.

The fourth time would be the charm as the Tigers and Bearcats finally met on Thursday night in their rivalry game. They both knocked the rust off the night before with Centralia falling to Shelton in extra innings while WF West took down Black Hills. Now it would be the second of three consecutive nights with a game for both teams. With a nice day it would be worth the wait for one side as they would notch a rivalry win in the season series opener.

WF West 11, Centralia 1 (5 Innings)

Centralia recorded the first hit of the game with a one-out single by Brooklyn Sprague in the 1st, but Taylor Tobin stranded her in a scoreless frame. WF West would put some pressure on McKena Smith in the bottom of the 1st as well as Avery Osborn and Karlee Coleman both singled to put two on with one out. Gracie Elam worked a walk to load the bases and Brooklyn Spencer came up with the early big hit. A hot shot down the left field line was just fair and cleared the bases as all three runs came home on Spencer’s double to give the Bearcats an early 3-0 lead.

Taylor Tobin bailed out her defense after an error put another Tiger on base in the 2nd. WF West would threaten again on a single by Avery Osborn but she remained on second with two outs. It looked to be a scoreless frame for McKena Smith as she got Karlee Coleman to hit a pop fly on the infield. What should have been a third out was dropped which allowed Osborn to score and continued the inning. Gracie Elam sent a triple into right field to make that error hurt even worse as the Bearcats pushed their lead to 5-0.

Adrianne Lynch would hit a single with one out in the 3rd as Centralia tried to get the bats going on Thursday night. That would light a little spark for the Tigers. With two outs, Ava Horst came through with a double to left and while the relay was fantastic, the ball was dropped at the plate which allowed Lynch to score from first on the Horst double to get Centralia on the board.

WF West would not allow that momentum to build for Centralia. In the bottom of the 3rd, they would chase McKena Smith thanks in part to an error and walks. Avery Osborn stayed red hot at the plate with a two-run double to open things up but by the time Lydia Lowe entered the circle and ended the inning, the damage was done. The Bearcats pushed across five runs to open their lead up to 10-1.

Taylor Tobin gave up two hits in both the 4th and 5th, but stranded them as the Bearcats needed just one run in the home half of the 5th for a mercy rule win. Lydia Lowe was in a groove after getting Aubree Lloyd to groundout to retire her fifth Bearcat in a row. However she would not solve the Avery Osborn puzzle as she walked the Bearcat leadoff hitter. Rayah Middleton would save her first hit for the perfect time as she smoked a double to center to put this one away. Osborn scored all the way from first to end this one early, giving the Bearcats an 11-1 win over the Centralia Tigers in five innings.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Avery Osborn for WF West. The designated player was just a hitter in the lineup and that is exactly what she did. Osborn went 3-3 with two singles and a double with a walk as well, drove in two runs and scored four more. She accounted for six of the 11 Bearcat runs and made life bad for both Centralia pitchers at the top of the Bearcat order while only seeing a total of nine pitches in her four plate appearances.

WF West moves to 8-2 on the season and 7-1 in EvCo 2A play, which puts them in first place after Aberdeen’s 2-1 loss to Shelton on Thursday. The Bearcats will try to make it three wins in a row when they host Tumwater at 6pm on Friday night in a game you can see here on ESN. Centralia falls for the second consecutive game and drops to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in league play. The Tigers look to snap their skid when they visit Aberdeen on Friday at 4:30pm.

Notable Performances

Centralia

WF West

• Avery Osborn- 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 4 R, BB
• Gracie Elam- 2-2, 3B, 2 RBI, R, BB
• Taylor Tobin- 5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO

Link to watch full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

ESN Postgame Show

Highlights

Spencer Clears the Bases

Horst RBI Double

Osborn Breaks it Open

elisportsnetwork.com