Title secured: Knights win 1A softball championship

RICHLAND — The Royal offense exploded to put up 16 runs on the board in Saturday’s 1A state championship game against No. 6 seed Seton Catholic, as the No. 8 Knights defeated the Cougars 16-4 in six innings to take home their first state championship in fastpitch softball.

“It’s fun to end any game early, but especially the state championship, with that type of run differential, was really fantastic,” Royal head coach Lisa Lawrence said. 

It didn’t take long for Royal’s bats to get hot, as senior Raegan Wardenaar and junior Audrey Bergeson led off the game with back-to-back singles to put two runners on base early in the top of the first inning.

“We all had goals that we wanted to pursue, and my goal was to lead off and start the rally going,” Wardenaar said. “When (Lawrence) went and flipped the coin for home or guest we got to hit first, and I was really excited.”

Royal’s first run of the game came off a sacrifice fly by sophomore Jill Allred, who drove in Wardenaar; in the next at-bat, senior Randi Allred sent home Bergeson on an RBI single.

“I think it was really about making a statement because we knew (Seton Catholic was) going to come in really confident too,” Randi Allred said. “After those first runs, it totally gets the entire team going. Gets our bats going, defense and everything as well.”

After the Cougars got a run back in the bottom of the first, Royal added another run with an RBI single from junior Adalynn Andersen; two at-bats later, Bergeson pushed the lead to 6-1 with a three-run home run over the right field wall.

“I knew we had runners on base, and I wanted to do my part to knock them home,” Bergeson said. “I just wanted to get contact with the ball and put it in the spot where no one would be able to field it, and that was the best spot,” Bergeson said.

Three more runs were scored in the top of the third inning with a bases-clearing three-RBI double by Jill Allred, extending the lead to 9-1. In the top of the fourth, junior Lily Delarosa and sophomore Taylor Webb both scored off two different Cougar errors, while Wardenaar drove in another run.

After Seton Catholic cut the lead to 12-4 in the bottom of the fifth, avoiding being run-ruled, the Knights scored their final runs with a three-RBI triple from Delarosa and an RBI from sophomore Emerson Eilers.

Six Knights had multiple hits in the win; Wardenaar (4), Bergeson (2), Jill Allred (3), Randi Allred (2), Delarosa (2) and Andersen (2).

“What was important was that we were hitting everyone in the lineup, one through nine was contributing,” Lawrence said. “Everybody had RBI this weekend, everyone had runs scored. We had a great team batting average, which carried forward into the championship game which was exciting to see.”

Royal put up 15 hits in the state championship game to Seton Catholic’s four hits.

“Knowing that if we put the barrel on the ball, that everything would go well — that we would do good,” Bergeson said. “That was my mindset, and I think our team, as a whole, did really well with that.”

Championship game

Coming off a 6-4 win over No. 4 Cedar Park Christian in the state semifinals earlier on Saturday, Royal found itself in a similar situation as it was a year ago; back in the 1A title game.

“We were excited to be in the championship again,” Lawrence said. “I sensed this calm confidence from the team — I think last year we had a little more nerves, and this year we had a lot of confidence going into that game that carried forward.”

Wardenaar said those nerves impacted the game, an 8-2 loss to Montesano resulting in a second-place finish at state. 

“Last year it was our first-ever state championship game, and I could tell we were very nervous going into the game,” Wardenaar said. “We had so many people there supporting us — I think we were all very nervous. But going through that year prepared us for this year’s game a lot.”

Last season’s appearance in the state championship game motivated the Knights during the 2024 campaign.

“We knew we could have been right there, so that was a big motivating factor this year; to see if we could get there again and turn it our direction in that championship game,” Lawrence said. 

Montesano — again

Royal began its run in the 1A State Softball Tournament in the opening round, taking on No. 9 Klahowya on Thursday. After defeating the Eagles 10-0 in five innings, the Knights were set to face off against Montesano for the third time over the past year; last year’s championship game, a 9-4 Bulldog win on April 12 in Walla Walla, and now this season’s state quarterfinal.

“We were at the hotel that morning, and we’re all hanging out and we were telling each other ‘We can do this,’” Wardenaar said. “We’ve seen them many times, and they are a beatable team. We just have to have the confidence that we can get into the game.”

The Knights won the game in comeback fashion; Montesano led the ballgame 3-2 through the first five innings, though Royal senior Jaya Griffin tied the game on an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning. After the Bulldogs recaptured the lead in the bottom of the same inning, Delarosa tied the game at four with an RBI double before sophomore Emerson Eilers gave the Knights a 6-4 lead on a go-ahead two-RBI double.

The quarterfinal win added some extra confidence heading into the final two rounds of the tournament.

“We were definitely excited,” Randi Allred said of heading into the state title game. “I think everybody was pretty confident after we were able to beat Montesano the day before, and after beating them everybody knew that anything was possible after that.”

Winning a title

Holding a 16-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, Royal was three outs away from hoisting its first state championship trophy in fastpitch softball. The first out came on a strikeout from Jill Allred, her 11th strikeout of the game; the second came on a fly ball to Griffin in left field; Eilers caught the final out of the game, as players rushed onto the field to celebrate.

“It just put an exclamation point on the entire season,” Bergeson said. “We’d fought really hard to make it where we were — all the way from districts, and I think that proved to ourselves that we had what it took to fight through the tournament and to take away the win.”

“We were all cheering, and I just kind of broke down because this is my last time playing with these girls,” Wardenaar said. “I started crying, but I was still really excited; I can’t believe this is my last game, and we won.”

While the Knights had won nine slowpitch softball state championships in the 80s and 90s, this was Royal’s first championship in fastpitch softball.

Sister duo

Sisters Randi and Jill Allred played a significant role in Royal’s state-title-winning season; while Jill pitched every inning of the 2024 season, Randi was behind the plate to catch every one of those pitches.

“They really got us through and were a big part of getting to that state championship (game) and winning the title,” Lawrence said. “Jill ended up with (279) strikeouts on the season; on MaxPreps, she’s third in the state in all divisions — 4A on down. The two of them really were a big part of our success this year.”

While successful teams typically have some sort of team chemistry from working with one another throughout the season, having an added layer of a familial bond helped that even more.

“It’s really cool having her as my sister because it’s a lot easier to calm her down and work things through with her,” Randi Allred said. 

The two shared a moment after the final out was recorded on Saturday, Randi said.

“The second our shortstop, Emerson (Eilers), caught that last ball to get the third out, Jill ran up to me and I immediately started bawling,” Randi Allred said. “We’re just telling each other how proud we are of each other.”

Late-season run

After falling in both games of a doubleheader to Warden on April 30, the Knights entered May with a 10-7 record. 

Those seven losses included games to Eastmont, who qualified for the 4A State Softball Tournament; Montesano, the 1A tournament’s No. 1 seed; Colville, who posted a 15-7 record this spring; Mount Baker, the 1A tournament’s No. 2 seed; Chiawana, who finished third in the Mid-Columbia Conference with a 17-8 record; and Warden, the runner-up in last weekend’s 2B State Softball Tournament.

“I have to hand it to the girls, we had some tough losses against some really good teams, Warden included,” Lawrence said. “... The girls kept grinding; we played great competition in hopes that it would prepare us for state, and I think it definitely did. When we got here and we were seeing good pitching and good teams, I think we were prepared to battle.”

Royal responded to being swept by the Cougars by winning 12 of their final 13 games this season, culminating in Saturday’s state championship.

“After we lost we were very down, and I told the girls ‘We’re going to lose some games, but we’re going to learn a lot from it,’” Wardenaar said. “I think losing both those games, the next week we went into practice and we’re like, ‘We have to start working really hard now. We have to take practice very seriously.’”

On to the future

Nine of the 12 players on Royal’s roster will return in 2025, including all-league talents Jill Allred, Bergeson, Delarosa and Eilers.

“We’ve got almost everyone returning; we’ve got three very talented seniors that we’re losing,” Lawrence said. “I think the returners, now they’ve seen it — most of the girls have seen it twice now at the championship level. I think that carries a lot of confidence moving forward.”

Randi Allred, Wardenaar and Griffin all graduate this spring. Lawrence spoke highly of the soon-to-be graduates.

“The seniors have been such a foundation of the program this year,” Lawrence said. “We’ve been really lucky — the three that stuck through all the way to the end, they’ve been playing travel ball for a lot of years, which really helped strengthen the program. They were good leaders, they performed well — they’ll really be missed.”

Royal concludes the 2024 season with a 22-8 record, the South Central Athletic Conference regular season league title, a second-place finish at districts and, of course, a state championship.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. 

Box score

ROY: 2-4-3-3-0-4 16
SEC: 1-0-0-0-3-0 4

    Royal sophomore Jill Allred pitched every inning of Royal’s 2024 softball season. In Saturday’s championship game, Allred pitched six innings while striking out 11 Seton Catholic batters, surrendering four hits and walking three.
  

    Royal junior Audrey Bergeson waits for a pitch in the batter’s box during the state semifinals against Cedar Park Christian. In the state championship game, Bergeson hit a three-run home run in the top of the second inning.
  

    Royal senior Raegan Wardenaar leads off of second base during the state semifinals against Cedar Park Christian. Wardenaar scored four runs in Saturday’s state championship game, going four-for-five at the plate.
  

    Royal senior Jaya Griffin leads off third base during Royal’s opening-round game against Klahowya on Thursday. Against Montesano in the state quarterfinals, Griffin went three-for-four at the plate, driving in two runs — both of which were team-highs.
  

    Royal junior Lily Delarosa dashes to first base after making contact with a pitch against Cedar Park Christian in the 1A semifinals on Saturday. In Saturday’s state title game, Delarosa had a bases-clearing three-RBI triple in the top of the sixth inning.