Mt. Spokane softball downs Ballard 7-0 in championship, moves to state

It was Kyla Stern’s last time stepping up to the plate on Mt. Spokane’s diamond.

The senior was determined to make her final at-bat something to remember.

With two outs in the sixth and the Wildcats up by four, Stern stepped up to the batter’s box. She drew a pair of strikes, but with one last stroke, Stern connected.

“My goal was to score somebody … and I just swung hard,” Stern said.

Stern’s hard swat launched a line drive that had Ballard’s left and center fielders running for the fence. They jogged to the back of the field and watched the ball fly over the fence and land somewhere near the parking lot.

Then the crowd errupted and Mt. Spokane’s dugout cleared.

Stern rounded third base and greeted the entire Mt. Spokane squad at home plate.

Stern said she couldn’t remember how many times she has knocked a homer out of the field in her career, but Monday’s bomb was only the second time Stern had hit a ball that cleared Mt. Spokane’s fence.

“It still feels good every time,” Stern said.

Stern’s homer drove in Mt. Spokane’s final three runs of the game as the Wildcats defeated the Ballard Beavers 7-0 in the District 2/8 glue-in game. The win sends Mt. Spokane to state for the second straight year.

Stern’s home run was one of three hits the senior had for Mt. Spokane, which notched only seven in total – three being extra-base hits.

“Hits were limited,” Wildcats head coach Carl Adams said. “But we made the most of our hits.”

The Wildcats piled on three runs in the second beginning with Jesse Dupui’s RBI double to center field. Mt. Spokane scored again three batters later when Brittney Coladonato smacked a triple that bounced off the left-field fence and drove in two more runs.

Mt. Spokane had another score in the bottom of the fifth after junior Hannah Madsen roped an RBI single to left field.

Mt. Spokane pitcher Jesse Dupuis, who recorded her sixth shutout in the circle this year, helped hold the Beavers to only one hit in the fifth inning when she gave up a single to center field with two outs.

“I’m really excited,” Dupuis said. “We went to state last year and we had a great run at state. At the beginning of (this) season, I wanted to go again, and I knew that we could do well when we get there.”

Mt. Spokane finished fourth in the state last year after first falling to Enumclaw. The Wildcats fought through to the second day of the double-elimination tournament before losing to Everett, which claimed third.

“Having experienced it last year for all of them for the first time … I think it was more of a thing like, ‘Hey, we can do this again,’” Wildcats head coach Carl Adams said. “They were focused on that from Day 1. So, (getting to state) became an expectation.”

Mt. Spokane (19-4) claimed an overall 16-4 regular-season record this year and tied for second with Shadle Park in the Greater Spokane League standings.

The Wildcats head to Lacey, Washington, to face Stadium on Friday at 9 a.m. in the first round of the Washington 3A State tournament.