The postseason run ended one game shy of the state tournament for the Washington softball team, as they traveled to Manchester and fell to #2 West Delaware 8-2 on Tuesday night in a class 4A regional final. 

As heard on KCII, the Hawks got out of the gates early with a pair of runs in the first headlined by a RBI single from Eve Wedewer. Demon pitcher Cara Linnenkamp was able to limit the damage by stranding the bases loaded ending the inning on a groundout. West Delaware tacked on one more in the fourth and two in the fifth when the Washington bats came to life. The third time through the order they were able to breakthrough against Hawk pitcher Macey Kleitsch in the sixth with a pair of tallies including a RBI knock from Alexa Mitchell and a pass ball that plated Kellie Dallmeyer. The Demons stranded a pair of runners to end the threat and trailed 5-2 when the Hawks immediately answered with insurance in the bottom half that proved to be enough. Washington scattered six hits led by a 2-for-3 performance from Dallmeyer and Linnenkamp threw six innings in the circle giving up 11 hits, five walks, and striking out two. 

Head Coach Ben Obermann told KCII Sports what the seniors meant to the program. “Their performance speaks for themselves. We are going to miss these four, they meant a lot to me and the program. Without senior leadership you might fold after a tough regular season, but these seniors wanted to keep rolling and they took that next step getting to the regional final. They are going to be missed in more ways than one.”

Washington concludes their season 10-18 and say goodbye to those four seniors in Kaitlyn and Alexa Mitchell, Kinsey Duwa, and Halle Leyden.