SELAH — East Valley ended a seven-year drought at the Class 2A state tournament on Friday at Carlon Park, defeating Clarkston 10-3 in the consolation bracket after a 20-5 opening-round loss to Archbishop Murphy earlier in the day.

Senior pitcher Presley Weatherley, the CWAC MVP, struck out 10 and allowed just three hits and one earned run over seven innings to help the Red Devils advance at state for the first time since 2019. She also went 2 for 4 with three RBI, while Rylee Brown and Kinley Manrique each smacked two-run home runs as No. 6 EV outhit the Bantams, 11-3.

“The girls set a goal at the beginning of the season to win at least one game at state, and they did that,” head coach Jason Ramynke said. “They worked hard to get here, and even though we didn’t make it to Saturday, they are pretty happy with themselves.”

The win set up another consolation round matchup against No. 8 Burlington-Edison, which overcame an early two-run deficit to hand the Red Devils a 3-2 season-ending defeat.

“Usually, if we can hold a team to three runs, we win, but we just couldn’t get the bats going,” Ramynke said. “I don’t like to lose, but I was OK with how we finished because we played the game we wanted to play.”

The Red Devils (20-6 overall) graduate four senior leaders in Sophiya Castaneda, Kendall Palmateer, Tia Ramynke and Weatherley. But they will also bring back a solid core of underclassmen who expect to make it four state trips in five years.

“We’re returning a ton of talent, and we plan on being back,” the coach said.

Selah goes two and out

Selah got off to a slow start in both of its games Friday at Carlon Park, bowing out of the 2A state tournament without a win.

The No. 10 seed Vikings fell behind 4-0 early against No. 7 Ridgefield in the opener and suffered a 9-3 setback. Payton Brown delivered an RBI single and star senior Avery Brewer hit a two-run homer in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to get past the hard-hitting Spudders.

The Vikings (18-6 overall) also got into trouble early in their consolation round matchup against No. 15 seed Olympic, falling behind 8-0 on the way to a 10-7 defeat. Despite their early struggles, the Selah bats caught fire late, with home runs by Brown, Brewer and Aspin Grubenhoff, who delivered a three-run shot in the fifth.

“We dug ourselves a bit of a hole, but the girls showed heart and kept chipping away,” first-year head coach Courtney Williams said. “There were a lot of positives today. Two games doesn’t define the season for us. We still had a heck of a year.”

Elliott McLaughlin and Kymbree Brost contributed RBI singles in the loss to Olympic, while Brown finished 3 for 4 with two runs scored.

Although the Vikings exited the tournament earlier than they would have liked, Williams was proud of how her team performed.

“We showed that we belong among the top teams in the state,” she said. “These are all great teams — that’s why they’re here. But we’re also a great team, and I want the girls to remember that.”