Valley fastpitch players make strong runs with their teams in Wenatchee tournament

The two U12 girls’ faspitch teams from the Issaquah Flame club with Valley players on them both made their bracket title games yesterday at their tournament in Wenatchee, and it was a split result.

The Flame Abraham made the Silver bracket title game at the tournament, and won it, beating the Lady Narrows 5-1. North Bend’s Maddy Trout was the big story among the local threesome on the team, going 1-2, with two runs scored. Fellow North Bender C.J. Howatson chipped in a nice 1-3 afternoon to pace the Flame, who won two games earlier yesterday to make it to the finals. Trout tripled to drive in a pair of runs to help the Flame beat the Woodinville Reign 12-7, and Howatson went 1-2 with a run to aid a 6-1 Flame win over the Washington Angels. Another North Bend resident, Emily Webb, also saw action in all three games, but struggled, going a combined 0-5 with a walk in the three games.

The Flame THTH team finished runners up in the Bronze bracket after falling in that bracket’s title game 12-2 to the Snohomish County Express. But efforts of local girls helped the Flame make it to the title game, specifically North Bend’s Heather Hinton and Lauren Wilbourne. Wilbourne went 3-3, Hinton walked three times, and both players scored three runs each to pace a 12-2 Flame blowout in the semifinals over Blaze Velocity. Snoqualmie’s Mia Fowler also pitched in a hit and a run to aid the efforts in that contest.

Fellow Snoqualmie residents Courtney Anderson and Grace Lis also play for the THTH team, and Lis walked and drove in a run Sunday in a 15-10 Flame loss to a team from West Seattle, and Anderson also had a hit and run in that game.

Flame U10 and U14 teams were eliminated without placing in the tournament; those teams also have local players on them.