Fastpitch softball competes in state tournament

With spring sports coming to a close, it is important to recognize our amazing sports programs, and one of those is the extremely talented softball team. Junior Addy Wynkoop has been playing softball for 12 years, and shares her experience on the team for the last three years.
Wynkoop said her experience playing softball for Ballard has been “really rewarding,” and she said that coming from playing select ball her whole life, playing for BHS has felt “like such a breath of fresh air.”
“The community is super well bonded,” Wynkoop said.
The team had goals for the season, and Wynkoop said one of those goals, encouraged by their sixth-year head Coach Dale Griffith, was to make it to state, and attempt to win it all.
“Coach Dale had put in this expectation that not only were we going to make it to state, but we were going to win state,” Wynkoop said.
Wynkoops says that as a team they were thrilled to make it to state and she explained that the game that led them to the state tournament was exciting.
“It was crazy,” Wynkoop said. “It was a super back and forth game. “The last play was wild,” Wynkoop said, referring to the great tag made by catcher Katie Davis on an opposing baserunner who tried to leap over the tag at home plate that preserved the Beaver’s one run lead and sealed the state playoff berth.
Wynkoop expressed her excitement for next season revealing that there is a lot of strong talent coming into the program, in addition to the talent already present on the team.
“Going into my senior year I feel like it’s going to be so much fun,” Wynkoop said.
After a strong playoff run, the softball team made it to the state tournament.
Unfortunately, the Beavers lost 2-1 in their first game to a lower ranked yet formidable Stanwood team.
The great season and playoff push combined with the early state tournament exit made for a bittersweet end to the team’s season.