Despite fielding a young team with only two seniors on the roster, the Meadowdale fastpitch team surprised many observers this year, earning 13 regular season wins and earning the No. 4 seed in the 3A District 1 tournament.

After going 1-1 in their opening district tournament games, the Mavericks needed one more win on Thursday to extend their remarkable season. But that task proved too much for the inexperienced Mavs as the team ran out of gas and dropped what proved to be their final games of the year, 8-7 to the Cascade Bruins and 10-3 to the Monroe Bearcats at Phil Johnson Fields in Everett.

With the losses, Meadowdale ended their 2024 campaign — and the final season with Coach Dennis Hopkins at the helm — with an overall mark of 14-9.

“It just wasn’t our night, that’s all there is to it,” Hopkins said. “Too many errors, too many little things that just bit us when we didn’t need to be bit.”

The team’s fateful final night of play proved to be a struggle as the team never led in either of the games, falling behind early and being forced to play catchup against strong-hitting teams with solid pitching.

In the first game, Cascade jumped on the Mavericks for five runs in the top of the first inning, thanks primarily to a grand slam home run to center field by the Bruins’ Allison Gehrig.

After falling being 5-0, the resilient Mavericks tried to stay close, scoring three runs in their half of the second inning, which included a two-run homer by Madison Mitchell.

Then after Cascade picked up a single run on the fourth off an RBI double by Mia Walker, Meadowdale’s Peyton Fry clobbered a two-run homer over the center-field fence in the fifth to cut the Bruins’ lead to 6-5.

But Cascade quickly answered with a pair of runs of its own in the top of the sixth, with a two-run single by Lauren Thompson.

The Mavericks’ attempt at a last-inning comeback was stopped a run short in the seventh; Olivia Feistel smacked a two-run double and ended up on third base after a throw to the plate by Cascade. But the junior would end up stranded at third after three straight Mavericks hitters went down quietly to end the game.

In Meadowdale’s second contest of the night, a winner-to-state loser-out game against Monroe, the Mavericks again found themselves down early as the Bearcats scored single runs in the first and third innings.

The Mavericks knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning on a RBI double by Fry and a manufactured run when the junior scored on a fielder’s choice.

But the Bearcats broke the tight game open with a fifth-inning homer by Scarlett Nagy, then added six runs in the sixth inning that included a two-run single by Hadley Oylear and a two-run homer by Brooke Boswell.

After the season-ending to Monroe, the Mavericks fought back tears and huddled one last time for the year.

“The season was great; they fought all the way through the season,” an emotional Hopkins said after that final huddle. “They were better than people expected them to be all year. They just came up short here (at districts).”

Hopkins, who had previously announced that this 16th year of coaching the Mavericks would be his last, gave one final tribute to the team’s two seniors from this season, Analise Griffiths and Mia Cantu, after Thursday’s losses.

“They’re both awesome,” he said.

Both Griffiths and Cantu will be playing collegiate softball next season, Griffiths at St. Martin’s College in Lacey and Cantu at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon.

Reaching the district fifth place/loser-out game is the deepest a Meadowdale team has played in the tournament since 2019.

To view the entire 3A District 1 Fastpitch Softball Tournament bracket, visit www.wpanetwork.com/wiaa/brackets/tournament.php?act=view&tournament_id=4320.

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Prep fastpitch softball: 3A District 1 Tournament, May 16

Cascade (Everett) 8, Meadowdale 7

Cascade 5 0 0 1 0 2 0 – 8
Meadowdale 0 3 0 0 2 0 2 – 7

Winning pitcher: Mia Walker
Losing pitcher: Jaeden Sajec

Meadowdale batting highlights: Madison Mitchell, 2-run HR; Peyton Fry, 2-run HR; Olivia Feistel, 2-run double

Cascade batting highlights: Allison Gehrig, grand slam HR; Lauryn Thompson 2-run single, RBI single; Mia Walker, RBI double

• Cascade ties for third in District 1 3A tourney, advances to state tournament; Meadowdale to 5th place/loser-out game

Monroe 10, Meadowdale 3

Monroe 1 0 1 0 1 6 1 – 10
Meadowdale 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 – 3

Winning pitcher: Holly Pettitt
Losing pitcher: Olivia Feistel

Meadowdale batting highlights: Peyton Fry, solo HR, RBI double

Monroe batting highlights: Brooke Boswell, 2-run HR; Vivian Knuckey, RBI double, RBI single; Hadley Oylear, solo HR, 2-run single, four RBIs in game; Scarlett Nagy, solo HR

• Monroe places 5th in District 1 3A tourney, advances to state tournament; Meadowdale 2024 season completed (overall record: 14-9)

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski