Royal girls off to district softball

ROYAL CITY - The Royal High Knights finished the regular softball season last week with two SCAC wins against Kiona-Benton and two non-league losses to Naches, and Thursday they'll be off to districts.

Thursday's opponent will be decided today between Naches and Zillah in their regular season finale.

Royal finished the season 7-5 in league, 11-9 overall. The last trip to districts was two years ago when the seniors were sophomores. The Knights have not been to state since 2008.

"The Ki-Be doubleheader was important for us because if we didn't sweep, that meant we were going into districts at a lower seed (than third)," coach Robyn Valdez said. "The girls did exactly what they were supposed to do and came out ready to play."

Royal won, 10-3 and 12-2.

In the first game, pitcher Seila Jenks recorded nine strikeouts, gave up one walk and allowed only five hits. On offense, Flor Araujo, McDarra Von Stein and Carmen Rodriguez had two hits each. Araujo had three RBI, and Taylor Freeman and Kailee Harris had two each.

Von Stein had three hits, Freeman and Rodriguez each had two and Freeman and Jenks each had three RBI in the second game.

Royal faced SCAC West Naches on Saturday and started out strong with a first pitch double from Von Stein but didn't score. Naches came to the plate and capitalized on errors to put three runs on the board en route to a 10-4 win.

"They were mostly silent the rest of the game except for just one run here or there. Unfortunately, so were we," Valdez said. "We had only eight hits and left 11 runners on base."

Harris had two RBI and went 2-3. Von Stein was 3-4 and Jenks was 2-3.

In the second game, Royal scored early and kept the lead through the top of the fourth inning. Then Naches had a lead off double, followed by an error and a walk, to load the bases for the catcher, who homered, putting the Rangers ahead 6-4. Naches tacked on three more in the fifth.

"Mental errors really killed us in this game, both on the base paths and in the field," Valdez said. "We are going to spend a lot of time on basics this week and how to stay cool both physically and mentally."

District is a double elimination tournament. No matter the outcome for the Knights on Thursday, they will be traveling to West Valley High School in Yakima on Saturday to play.

"We have high hopes and, if the girls can stay focused and prepare themselves mentally for this adventure, we have a good chance at making it to the state tournament this year," Valdez said.