The Redmond High fastpitch team fell short in its bid to better last year’s third-place finish at the Class 4A state fastpitch tournament last weekend at South End Recreation Area Fields in Tacoma.

The Mustangs, who won the Kingco title last week, advanced to the state semifinals but then lost a pair of close games to Mountlake Terrace, 4-3, and Walla Walla, 4-2, on Saturday after making it to the state semifinals.

The losses were not due to ineffective pitching. Mustang senior hurler Erika Hendron had a marvelous state tournament, giving up just four earned runs in four games for a 1.39 ERA.

Redmond, however, struggled offensively and committed an uncharacteristic amount of fielding errors, including four against Walla Walla.

“I don’t think mentally we came out ready to play like we could have,” said Pat Frable, Redmond’s first-year head coach. “That’s taking nothing away from Walla Walla, they played a pretty good game, but it was just a tough way to end the year.”

TERRACE TROUBLE

Mountlake Terrace and Redmond emerged from Friday’s play as two of the four teams still alive for the 4A championship, and with Hawks gunslinger Kori Seidlitz on the mound for Saturday’s semifinal, the Mustangs knew they were going to get all they could handle.

Unlike last year’s state semifinal against Shadle Park, where University of Oregon’s Sam Skillingstad no-hit the Mustangs 6-0, the Mustangs drew first blood against Seidlitz, stringing together four straight singles in the sixth inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Just six outs away moving on to the state title game, the Mustangs faltered in the field and as the Hawks scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead.

The Redmond bench and stands were left stunned after Mountlake Terrace uncorked three hits, while the Mustangs hit a batter and committed two errors.

Redmond was unable to score in the seventh, and Mountlake Terrace advanced to the championship game, where they eventally lost to Kelso 13-2 in six innings.

“We just didn’t play catch, they got some timely hits, a couple of friendly hops, and that’s just the way it goes,” Frable said. “When you have a 3-0 lead you just expect to get the win that late in the game. It was disappointing.”

Seidlitz finished the game with 11 strikeouts.

DOWN AND OUT

In the exhausting 80-plus degree heat and the pressure of Saturday at the state tournament, the normally solid defense and clutch hitting of Redmond collapsed during the crucial loser-out consolation bracket game against Walla Walla.

Of the four runs the Blue Devils scored, only one was earned, and the Mustangs stranded seven runners on base.

“We just wanted to finish it out with a huge effort since we’ve been together for so long, keep that going, give it our all,” Hendron said. “I think we could have fought harder… but we had a great season. It was fun.

LASTING MEMORIES

After the game, you could see the sobering reality slowly sinking in, particularly with the team’s six seniors, who had just played their final fastpitch game in a Mustang uniform.

“The six seniors who are graduating have been instrumental, and there will be some major shoes to fill,” Frable said of his upperclassmen. “They have great personalities, they’re great students, they really are passionate and have a sense of humor. Very fun kids to be around.”

Senior first baseman Emily Squires had a phenomenal state tournament, batting a team-high .583 for four games.

“It’s been everything,” said a misty-eyed Squires when asked what playing fastpitch has meant to her. “I love this group of girls. We’re going to be friends forever. We’ve grown up together for at least 10 years, it’s meant the world to play with them.”

The program will also sorely miss Hendron, the Kingco MVP who will play for Western Washington University next year. The hard-throwing righthander polished off her prep career by pitching some of the best games of her life.

“There’s a reason she was the Kingco MVP,” Frable said. “She’s a fierce competitor… whenever things got tough she always dug down and found ways to help us out and get out of tough innings.”

Hendron finished the season with a final record of 14-6, including the win in the league championship game against Woodinville. Twelve of her wins came on outings where she gave up one run or less.

“It was so much fun,” said Hendron. “We’ve been playing together since we were 10 years old in All-Stars, and we got second in state that year. This year we were trying to get first, but it just didn’t work out that way.”

Q & A with Erika Hendron

Q: How did playing fastpitch for Redmond high school prepare you for life and also playing in college?

A: The competitiveness, especially at the state level, it’s really going to carry over into college. It’s going to be a big change, but (playing for Redmond) was good preparation.

Q: What was your greatest memory of your fastpitch career as a Mustang?

A: Probably winning Kingco this season, and last year how we were the Cinderella team and we came up so much. Just being one of the first Redmond teams to do something, whether it’s taking third (at state, 2008) or winning Kingco.”