RICHLAND — 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.
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, Aliyah Congdon-Snyder 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 and outfielder Riley Smith.
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.”
