RICHLAND – Behind dominant, ace-level pitching from senior Maddie Milhorn, the top-seeded Skyview Storm blanked the 16-seed Yelm Tornados 4-0 on Friday, May 23, at the Columbia Playfield in Richland to advance to the WIAA’s 4A state softball quarterfinals matchup.
Milhorn collected 17 total strikeouts on the day against Yelm, including 11 straight to start the contest. She allowed one hit on the day to senior catcher Layah Hicks in the top of the fifth inning, and hit sophomore outfielder Riley Smith – otherwise, she had a perfect outing.
“You come here and you want to play the best. I’m proud of how we played. Would we have liked to score runs and get more people on? Yeah, but you know, they’re a good team,” Yelm head coach Lindsay Walton said. “Throughout our season, if we’ve lost, a lot of the times it was because we beat ourselves. I can’t say that we beat ourselves this game. We did the best that we could against a very good team.”
Walton was also quick to compliment Milhorn during her postgame interview with the Nisqually Valley News. The longtime Tornados head coach knows that high-level pitching is crucial for a state championship run.
“She’s the real deal. She’s really good, and probably the best pitcher we’ve faced this season. She has speed. She has a lot of control. She’s definitely the best we’ve seen,” Walton said. “A few times, we were able to put the ball in play, not as a base hit, but it was us trying to make plays when we could. I think other teams are going to struggle with that. There might be a few hitters here and there who can string some hits together, but other than that, I’m not sure.”
Walton added that Milhorn didn’t throw many pitches in the outing against the Tornados, and that she could shape up to have an outstanding showing in the WIAA’s 2025 4A Fastpitch State Tournament.
The contest initially started off as a pitcher’s duel between Skyview’s Milhorn and junior Tornado Mallory Hoke. Through the first three innings, no runs were allowed by either pitcher and a combined 12 strikeouts accumulated.
After Milhorn struck out freshman Paityn Powell, junior Jocelyn Lintz and sophomore Kamille Kautz in the top of the fourth inning, Skyview’s offense woke up and scored four runs in the bottom of the frame. After a leadoff double and walk, junior outfielder Maya Figueroa smacked a double to left-center field to drive in the first runner of the game and give Skyview a 1-0 lead.
With runners on second and third base, senior infielder Emma Kauffman crushed a home run to make the lead 4-0, which was insurmountable for the Tornados. Following the home run, Hoke’s day was finished. She struck out three batters and allowed four hits and four earned runs in her outing.
She was replaced by senior pitcher/infielder Austin Hitchner, who struck out two batters and walked one in relief.
“I’m very proud of Mallory (Hoke) and Austin (Hitchner),” Walton said. “They came out and threw the best that they could. It was probably a pitch call on my part on that home run, but we learned from that. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way.”
Hoke and Hitchner combined for five scoreless innings, but the four-run fourth inning proved to be too much for the Tornados.
Despite the opening round loss against the top-seeded Skyview Storm, the Tornados will play again at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 23, against Glacier Peak.
Following the loss, Walton told her team to remain strong and reminded them that there’s still an opportunity for a third place finish, which Yelm has done before under the longtime coach’s leadership.
“We’ve been in this position before where we’ve taken third after an early loss. It’s a feeling like you actually won the state tournament because you end on a win, and you finish third. When you’re playing for first, you either win and are champions or you lose and take second. Third almost feels better than second because you end your season on a win,” Walton said. “I told the girls that there’s still a lot of softball left to be played, and let’s go play two more games. Lets get two more wins today, play our best and take third. It would be a huge accomplishment in 4A.”
