Rage 16U builds momentum ahead of national tournament

MOSES LAKE — The Washington Rage 16U (10-9-1) finished second in the Summer Meltdown tournament in Chehalis. It was one more warmup tourney ahead of their trip to Nationals in Newberg, Oregon this weekend, Head Coach Bob Richardson said.  

"The team played well," Richardson said. "We were able to battle in some tight games and pull it out in the end. The girls were playing good defense, we hit the ball well and pitching was good, so that helps and makes it for a nice, successful weekend. We just ran out of gas in the championship game." 

The Rage built momentum throughout the tournament, going undefeated until the championship game. The first three came on Saturday, where they defeated the Washington Freedom Fastpitch Wolfrom 8-5, Washington Freedom Fastpitch CHaley 8-6 and the Kitsap Ospreys-Newman 10-6.  

They started strong on Sunday with an 11-5 win in a rematch with Wolfrom. However, their run was halted after they suffered an 8-0 loss to the Xtreme Fastpitch in the championship. Despite the loss, Richardson and the Rage feel they are ready to make a run at Nationals.  

"I'm feeling pretty good about it," he said. "The way the team is, I think the way we've gelled, especially the last three weeks, I think that we have a really good opportunity to place fairly high. Super excited, and I think the team is focused and ready to go." 

The highlight of the weekend was their semifinal win over Wolfrom, Richardson said. After giving up two runs in the top of the first inning, the Rage rallied in the bottom of that same inning with five runs.  

It started with back-to-back triples by Amaiah Martinez and Allie Jensen, who later scored. Also getting home was Brooklyn Bruce, Kylie Christensen and Malorie Lane.  

From there, they built on their lead with single runs in the bottom of the second and third innings. The Rage defense only allowed three more runs out of Wolfrom the rest of the game, while adding two runs in the fourth and fifth innings to seal an 11-5 win.  

Also recording runs in their semifinal win was Rayna Waters, Taylor Peterson and Isabella Suarez. In the pitcher's circle, Lane allowed seven hits, two earned runs and struck out five batters.  

Lane and Waters brought strong consistent pitching, while Bruce and Christensen put together multiple strong batting shifts, Richardson said. He had high praise for Martinez, who stood out for the Rage last weekend on offense and defense. 

"I've spent some extra time getting her dialed in on her swing because she struggled quite a bit, I would say that her desire to get better is really what's helped her move to the next level," Richardson said.  

As they prepare to head to Newport this weekend, Richardson and the Rage know what strengths they need to lean on to find success.  

" I think our defense," he said. "We're starting to hit the ball well. We still have some mental hiccups defensively at times, but I think that overall, if we play a little tighter defense like we did towards the end of the last two tournaments, I really think that that's going to help us because offensively we're scoring when we need to, and we're scoring enough to win." 

The Rage will first play the Charge Fastpitch 16U at 1 p.m. before jumping right into another game against Pioneer Premier 16U at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. With the team finding more success recently, the Rage feel poised to make some noise this weekend, said Richardson.  

"They're excited and pumped," he said. "We've had some really good weekends stacked up here over the last month, their growth has been huge not only on offense but defense and mindset, I think they feel that we're going to do well."