Grant Union/Prairie City 10, Weston-McEwen/Griswold 0

Some say history doesn’t repeat, it just rhymes.

The Grant Union/Prairie City Lady Prospector softball team wrote a different end to a familiar story on Friday, June 2, claiming the Class 2A state softball championship with a dominant 10-0 win over Blue Mountain Conference rival Weston-McEwen/Griswold at Jane Sanders Field in Eugene.

The storylines for last year’s championship game, in which the Lady Pros came up just short, and this year’s game were eerily similar. Grant Union/Prairie City was again the higher-seeded team in the final, and the team again squared off against a squad that they’d defeated earlier in the season.

The Lady Pros, hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s events, looked as good as they have all season in shutting out the Lady TigerScots.

Scoring for Grant Union/Prairie City started in the bottom of the first inning on the heels of a Savannah Watterson single that brought Addy Northway across home plate to give the Lady Pros a 1-0 lead. Northway advanced to second base and later home plate following a pair of back-to-back Weston-McEwen throwing errors.

The Lady TigerScots looked poised to respond, putting runners on first and second base with no outs in the top of the second. The Lady Pro defense rose to the challenge, however, as a fly-out to right fielder Lilly Rockhill sandwiched in between a pair of strikeouts stranded the two Weston runners on base to preserve Grant Union/Prairie City’s one-run lead.

An RBI single by Halle Parsons and a sacrifice fly by Raney Anderson in the bottom of the third saw the advantage swell to 3-0. The Lady Pros kept the pressure on in the bottom of the fourth, adding another three runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead into the fifth inning.

Northway’s RBI single along with Watterson’s RBI triple brought the game to the verge of a mercy rule decision at 9-0 to end the fifth inning. Three straight Weston-McEwen/Griswold outs set the stage for the game’s conclusion in the bottom of the sixth.

With two outs and Laken McKay at bat, Weston-McEwen pitcher Brielle Ward let one get away from her. Reece Jacobs would sprint from third base across home plate following the wild pitch to end the game early via the mercy rule and give the Lady Pros a 10-0 win and their long-awaited state softball championship.

Northway, Parsons and Watterson all came up big for the Lady Pros, finishing with a pair of RBIs each in the title game. Northway and Parsons each had four at-bats, with Northway finishing 3-4 and Parsons finishing 2-4. Watterson made three plate appearances and finished with two hits.

Drew Williams pitched the entire game, allowing a mere three hits while striking out 10 Lady TigerScot batters.

Grant Union/Prairie City head coach Zach Williams said winning the title took a weight off his shoulders that he’d been carrying since last year’s result.

“It’s a big relief is the first thing,” Williams said.

“I turned around in the car and told (Drew), ‘This is a lot better than last year.’ Last year we were devastated, still felt like we underperformed in the title game last year, and this time we showed up and played the way we know we can play,” he added.

While it went unstated heading into this year, Williams acknowledged that a trip back to the title game was the team’s mission this season.

“100% yeah,” he said.

“My first couple years we never talked about it — like, you couldn’t talk about it. Once we’d been there, we know it’s the goal and anything else would be a disappointment.”

Williams said both he and his team were struck by the eerily similar circumstances between this year’s title game and last year’s.

“It wasn’t lost on us that we were 2-0 against Weston this year and we were 2-0 against Lakeview last year. Everybody saying it’s hard to beat a team three times,” he said.

The team was a little different this year, a little more mature. Not to take anything away from last year’s squad, according to Williams, but this team’s experience in big games was the difference.

“When we walked into the stadium (in Eugene) this year, several of the girls mentioned that it doesn’t look so big this year. Which was great to hear — it just felt a little bit normal,” he said.

“The girls and the coaching staff appreciate so much the community that traveled over to watch the game and the families that put in the time with us — it’s super appreciated,” Williams added. “We love our community, and we appreciate it.”

For the Lady Pros, winning the state title is the final chapter of a redemption story that has been a year in the making. The sadness, agony and disappointment of last year’s result is now firmly in the rearview mirror.

What a difference a year makes.