Ilwaco's Alexis Couch picked up two more wins by winning both games of the doubleheader. In game two Couch held the Lady Bruins to just two hits and one run.

WHITE SALMON – The Lady Fishermen won their record ninth straight softball game with a 20-10 slugfest victory over Columbia of White Salmon Friday in Trico League play. It was anything but a pitcher’s dual as Ilwaco mashed 20 hits, including Alexa Wirkkala’s record-breaking fourth home run in four consecutive league contests, and the Lady Bruins hammered 10 safeties in the game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule.

Ilwaco jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and they were up 10-1 when Columbia pulled to within 10-5 after two frames. In the fifth inning Wirkkala belted her fourth hit of the day, a ball off the left-centerfield fence. Wirkkala cleared the same fence “by 30 feet” for a homerun an inning before according to coach Rick Bishop.

Besides Wirkkala’s four hits and four RBI, the Ilwaco hit parade was long and loud. Kady Kirby, Ashley Tapio and Annika Wolters continue to be hot hitters, each smashing three safeties at the wind-whipped Columbia High field. Sydney Ward, Aimee Banuet and Kelsey Madsen added two safeties apiece and Brittnee Pattison singled in two trips to the plate and walked twice.

“Annika, Ashley and Alexa are hitting the ball as hard right now as any players we have ever had in the program,” Bishop praised. “Brittnee Pattison did an excellent job of catching for us.” The Lady Fishermen committed five errors and made several other mental miscues according to Bishop, but their spectacular hitting was the difference. “It comes down to we were the better team so we won today, but Castle Rock will be a test next week,” Bishop concluded.

The Lady Fishermen played the high-flying Lady Rockets Tuesday in Castle Rock in a double-dip and will host them on Friday in a trio of Trico League tilts that could very well decide the regular season championship. The Lady Rockets are defending state 1A champions and are 8-1 for the year and are tied with Ilwaco at 6-0 at the top of the Trico.

The win by Ilwaco improves their season mark to 9-0 and the Lady Fishermen are now 6-0 in league play. The Lady Bruins drop to 3-8 overall and are 0-6 in the Trico. The Lady Fishermen are off to by far their fastest start in team history and they have already eclipsed their previous record high of seven wins in a season and they have clinched a winning record for the first time ever, as well.

Ilwaco 462 26 20-20-5

White Salmon 142 30 10-10-4

Alexis Couch (W) and Brittnee Pattison; Andrea Helton (L) and Adrian DeLay

Lady Fishermen sweep Columbia to remain unbeatenLONG BEACH – The Lady Fishermen set a team record for most wins in a season as they remained perfect by sweeping Columbia 9-1 and 17-7 in a Trico League doubleheader in Long Beach Tuesday. Alexa Wirkkala slammed a home run in each game and went 4-8 for the twin bill, with a total of six RBI’s to lead Ilwaco at the plate. The blasts gave Wirkkala a round-tripper in each of the last three league games she has played, also a school record for softball or baseball.

Ilwaco jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first encounter when Kate Denton walked, Wirkkala singled and Annika Wolters chased them both home with a base hit up the middle. The Lady Fishermen upped their lead to 3-1 an inning later on singles from Sydney Ward, Denton and Ashley Tapio. Ilwaco broke the game open in the fifth when Aimee Banuet belted a home run to left-center field, Tapio singled and Wirkkala plated her with her first homer of the day to deep left.

Ilwaco tacked on three more runs in the sixth and came away with an easy 9-1 victory. Banuet finished the initial contest 3-3, Tapio was 2-3, Wirkkala 2-4, Denton and Wolters were 1-3 and Brittnee Pattison had a single in a pinch-hitting role.

The second contest appeared to be over by the third frame as Ilwaco had fashioned a 10-2 lead. However, a compendium of bloops, errors and a blast brought Columbia back to within 10-7 as they recorded a five-spot on the scoreboard in their half of the fourth frame.

Ilwaco answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth and Banuet at second base had all three assists in the fifth stanza to stifle the Lady Bruins. The Lady Fishermen then scored three runs in the fifth and a pair in the sixth to end the fray 17-7 by the mercy rule.

It was a team effort for Ilwaco hitters as Kady Kirby was 3-5 and Tapio, Wirkkala, Wolters, Alexis Couch and Pattison each recorded two hits and Kelsey Madsen and Banuet each stroked one hit, but both were good for two RBI’s. Couch pitched all 13 innings, giving up two hits, one walk and striking out one in the opener and giving up eight hits, two walks and striking out four in the night cap.

Denton behind the plate, Madsen at first, Banuet at second, Wirkkala at shortstop and Erin Kelly at third base, in game one, made exceptional plays. In the second game Ward at third base made two nifty stops of hard hit balls and the outfield of Kirby, Tapio and Wolters was steady. The only glitch for the Lady Fishermen defense came in the fourth frame of the second game when they bunched four of their five errors.

Coach Rick Bishop said, “We are playing much better. We defended and pitched well today and we continue to hit well as a team. Alexa really crushed the ball today and Ashley and Aimee are also hitting very well right now. We still need to tighten our defense some and avoid mental lapses in the field and on the base paths.” He concluded, “But here I am talking about mistakes after we just ’10-runned’ a team. That’s how much our expectations have risen this year and that’s a good thing.”

Columbia 002 500 7-8-4

Ilwaco 235 132 17-16-5

Pitcher unavailable and DeLay; Couch and Denton

Columbia 010 000 0 1-2-3

Ilwaco 210 033 x 9-11-3

Andrea Helton and Adrian DeLay; Couch and Denton