An 8-0 win over Sitka High School on Friday means Thunder Mountain Falcons softball is on their way to the Region V final, to be played Saturday at 11 p.m. in Ketchikan.
The No. 1-seed Falcons cleared Sitka out of their way with a seven-run first inning. Now the Falcons, who have won the state tournament two years in a row, have only one team left in front of them: the winner of a Ketchikan-Sitka game to be played at 6 p.m. today.
Coach John Boucher, when reached by phone after the game, said his team wanted to start the game strong.
“We talked to the girls today about coming out aggressively and trying to get a lead early and they executed that extremely well,” Boucher said.
Kyra Jenkins Hayes, Peyton Harp, Megan Dallas, Mariah Tanuvasa Tuvaifale and Letasi Fenumiai all drove in runs in the first. Pitcher Nina Fenumiai — one half of a fearsome tandem with Jenkins Hayes — had the right stuff to back that lead up.
Fenumiai’s pitching fortified the offense’s quick start, Boucher said. That’s the idea when you have a pitcher who can place a fastball like Fenumiai, Boucher said: develop a quick lead, and she can look down the rally. It’s hard to imagine closing a seven-run deficit against her, Boucher said.
“When you put a lead like that up and you have Nina throwing, that’s a tough task to figure out how you’re going to get seven off her. So Sitka was looking uphill,” Boucher said.
The Falcons played solid defense in the rain at Dudley Field, Boucher said, which added to their confidence. The team understands that defense can keep you in games when the bats aren’t there, Boucher said. But when they are, like they were Friday, that’s an even better situation to be in.
Fenumiai pitched a five-inning complete game with four strikeouts. The Falcons had eight hits to Sitka’s five.
TMHS has already punch their ticket to the state tournament. The Region V final will only decide who goes into the tournament as the region’s No. 1 or No. 2 seeds.
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 and kgullufsen@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @KevinGullufsen.
