Lady Raiders beat Brewster Bears and head to state

When Presley Steffens was in sixth grade, her future coach, Jaci Gross, gave her a shot at batting against standout Lady Raider pitcher Emma Marchand, just to try it out, see how it feels.

Marchand got one past her. The next one went over the fence.

Friday night, Steffens, now a sophomore, demonstrated her skills at both pitching and batting, slugging one over the fence in the fourth inning to bring in Taylor Thomas Vargas and herself, bumping the score to its final 15-4, then taking the mound for her final three strikeouts on the home diamond this year.

Brewster's Lady Bears didn't stand much of a chance against the determined Lady Raiders, and the game ended on a mercy rule in the fifth inning of the game in which Steffens had put away her 200th disappointed batter of the season.

The Raiders, however, liked their productive bats. But after an error-laden inning, Assistant Coach Mike Steffens (Presley's father) called a time out to explain his observations, which seemed to make sense to his players, whose game focus sharpened.

They eventually sent Brewster home but saved Lake Roosevelt a berth at the state championship games in Yakima this week.

LR has had quite a season. With an 18-5 win-loss record overall, they are currently ranked eighth among the state's 2B category teams, with number one in their own league - Okanogan (21-1), according to WIAA's RPI system.

They're set to play Liberty High School's (Spangle) Lancers (22-1) in a loser-out game at 10 a.m. Friday at Yakima's Gateway Sports Complex, field 3. The winner plays Kittitas (20-2) on Field 2 at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

The winner of that game plays the next day at 10 a.m. at Field 2 in the semifinals. The championship game happens at 3 p.m. Saturday, Field 1.

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