TUALATIN – As their softball winning streak grows to near mythic proportions, all the Tualatin Timberwolves can do is shake their heads in wonder.
The reigning 6A champion Timberwolves extended their winning streak to 40 on Wednesday with a 10-0, six-inning win over visiting Mountainside in a nonleague game. No official state records are kept, but Tualatin has matched the only other known streak of such magnitude, Marist Catholic’s 40-game run in 2008 and 2009.
The top-ranked Timberwolves (10-0) can add to it Friday when they visit No. 8 Sunset (7-3).
“It’s insane. It’s crazy. It feels like unreal, just the way we’re able to keep it going,” said Tualatin junior pitcher Tia Ridings, who shut out No. 3 Mountainside (8-2) for the second time in eight days. “We pick each other up. If one of us is having a rough game, somebody else is stepping up.
“That’s such a big thing. We had that last year, and we definitely have it this year. That’s probably the biggest reason why we’ve been able to keep it going.”
Ridings pitched a four-hitter with five strikeouts and had three of Tualatin’s 13 hits off Mountainside junior Kacie Schmidt. The Timberwolves also got two hits each from junior Bella Valdes and freshmen Leanna Rosenbaum and Ella Hoyle and three RBIs from senior Andrea Gomez.
Despite losing four starters from last season, including all-state pitcher Megan Woodward, Tualatin hasn’t skipped a beat. The Timberwolves have outscored their opponents 62-19.
“It’s definitely surreal,” Valdes said. “The seniors from last year, who I looked up to a lot, we kind of took what we got from them and were able to make our own twist on it, and bring it to this season. I hope the underclassmen are looking up to us so they can do it when we graduate. It’s a system where, obviously, we’re doing something right.”
One of Tualatin’s biggest question marks entering the season was its offense. But the Timberwolves have proven to be opportunistic hitters.
“Offensively, they’re coming together as a team,” coach Jenna Wilson said. “We have a lot of girls who can be home run hitters, but those hitters also know how to manufacture runs.”
It was on display Wednesday against upstart Mountainside, which is playing its first varsity season.
The Timberwolves got two-out RBI hits from Rosenbaum and Hoyle to lead 2-0 in the first inning. They combined four hits with four errors and two walks to score six runs in the fourth inning and open an 8-0 lead. With two outs and nobody on base in the sixth, five consecutive batters reached to end the game.
The offensive outbursts have helped keep the heat off Ridings.
“Tia’s been amazing on the mound,” Valdes said. “I’m always talking about how she’s working her butt off so we need to be working out butt off for her. If we’re up by a lot, then she can be relaxed in the circle and have a better game.”
Tualatin’s momentum is building.
“At first I think we were a little timid, just like new season, new people, new everything,” Ridings said. “But I feel like now we have a lot of confidence, with everybody getting so much better, and having fun practices, and having teammates step up at the right times.
“I feel like we are all pretty confident going into our games, that we can do it. It’s a very similar feeling to the one we had last year.”
The winning streak has taken on a life of its own, even if Wilson declined to address it.
“No comment. I’m not talking about it,” Wilson said with a smile.
Valdes said of the streak: “Just thinking about it, it’s crazy. What I love about it is one bad pitch, one bad hit, one whatever can win or lose a game. That’s the fun of it, that you have to give 100 percent every single pitch or it could be a deal-breaker.”
