Lady Raiders finish seventh in state softball

The Lady Raiders finished their softball season ranked seventh in the state, the best a Lake Roosevelt softball team has ever finished.

The Lady Raiders' successful softball season came to a close in Yakima following a couple of state tournament losses.

The Lady Raiders lost their first game against Adna 12-2 May 24 in Yakima.

Adna went on to be the state champions.

Cassidy Reyes and Emma Marchand had the only two hits for LR.

LR's two runs came in the third inning, while Adna's came throughout the game. Adna had eight hits to LR's two, and one error to LR's two.

The loss paired LR against Toledo later that same day, which LR lost 16-13.

Statistics were unavailable for that game at deadline time.

"The second game was a tough one for us," Head Coach Jaci Gross said. "Toledo had a similar team and we battled with everything we had. Coming out with a loss after that game was heartbreaking."

The Lady Raiders finished first in the Central Washington 2B league with a 15-1 league win-loss record, third in the region, and seventh in the state. Their overall win-loss record is 20-4, with three of those losses in the postseason.

"Thinking over our season, this was an incredible season," Gross said. "We started with 19 players and three coaches. We lost our rock, Terry Warnecke, in the middle of the season, and we had a very difficult time with that. But we drew closer together, and ended up with 15 players and two coaches STRONGER."

"This is a season I will never forget," Gross continued. "Our softball family will always be just that ... a family. Everyone contributed, and I couldn't have been prouder. I just wish we could have had a win at state for TW (Terry Warneke). We ended the season rated seventh in state, the highest a softball team at LR has ever been ranked."