Yelm softball’s season ends with 4A State Tournament losses to Skyview, Glacier Peak

The Yelm High School softball program’s first year in the 4A South Puget Sound League has officially come to an end following two losses in the WIAA’s 2025 4A State Fastpitch Tournament on Friday, May 23, in Richland.

Entering the tournament as the No. 16 seed, the Tornados had an uphill battle if the team’s state championship aspirations were to come true. In the opening round of the tournament, the Tornados faced top-seeded Skyview and were shut out 4-0 in an 11 a.m. matchup on Friday, May 23.

Behind dominant, ace-level pitching from senior Maddie Milhorn, Skyview blanked the Tornados 4-0 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.

Yelm’s second matchup of the day, a 3 p.m. contest against No. 9 Glacier Peak, was the Tornados only game in the consolation bracket, as the Grizzlies found themselves victorious, 9-1. Junior Mallory Hoke started for the Tornados, while senior Austin Hitchner and sophomore Leticea Romo appeared in relief.

Senior Kylie Minker scored the Tornados’ only run of the contest with a solo shot to center field late in the game.

“4A is tough. It’s tough competition all around. The fact we made it here this year — we have to find the small victories. We played two games, and next year we want to get to Saturday play. That would be ideal,” Yelm’s head coach Lindsay Walton said. “Whether we’re playing on Saturday for third place or in the winners bracket, that’s where we want to be. What we struggled with was that intensity where at our district meet, that was a completely different team. The intensity has got to be there at this level.”

With the loss, the Yelm program officially says goodbye to seniors Hitchner, Caylee Roberts, Layah Hicks, Minker and Jennie Hendrickson. Though they’ve played their last contests as Tornados, Walton was thankful for their contributions to the program over the last four years.

“I told the seniors there’s a lot of things they should be proud of. They led a team to the state tournament and played a big part in our success this year,” Walton said. “They should look at those successes they had and be proud. Sixteen teams make it here. What’s there not to be proud of?”

The Tornados will return an abundance of talented underclassmen to the squad in 2026, including freshman utility player Paityn Powell, sophomore infielder Kamille Kautz, junior infielder Jocelyn Lintz, junior pitcher Mallory Hoke, sophomore pitcher/outfielder Romo, outfielder Riley Smith and outfielder Aliyah Congdon-Snyder.

Walton noted the returners for Yelm next season play a lot of travel softball during the high school’s offseason, which can help with development of athletes. Aside from physical improvements, the coach would like to see mental improvements from her squad next year.

“We got to learn to deal with our emotions in games, in tournaments like this. You have four opportunities to compete in state tournaments in high school, and a lot of emotions come with that. It gets heightened as you become a senior. That’s natural,” she said. “We need to learn how to deal with our emotions, and if you’re not having an on day, it’s fine. It’s a game of failure. You’re going to fail more than you succeed in this game, but how do you move on? There’s another pitch, there’s another at-bat. We’ll figure that out.”