19-04-2025
‘She can do it all': Emerald Ridge's Wirtala delivers gem, game-winning double
Mark down another gem for Alanna Wirtala.
Emerald Ridge's ace notched her seventh complete game of the season and delivered the game-winning, two-run single in extras — the hero twice over in a gutsy road run over Puyallup on Friday evening, 5-2.
'She's been doing that all year,' Jaguars coach Adam Schakel said. 'She can hit as good as anybody. Obviously, a very accomplished pitcher. She can do it all.
'She's right up there for Player of the Year consideration in our league, for sure.'
Wirtala's already in postseason form, and it's only mid-April. The senior right-hander threw her trusted rise-ball to perfection and blew fastballs past rival Puyallup, allowing nine hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts across 119 pitches. She surrendered just two earned runs, Puyallup's lowest offensive total since March 18.
And she's been in big moments like these before. The 2024 TNT All-Area selection put Emerald Ridge on her back and carried the Jaguars to last year's championship game, a 10-1 loss to Jackson High. But with a dangerous core of returning hitters — Wirtala's bat included — there's plenty of belief another deep run could be in the cards.
'I'm getting the spin on my pitches right and relying on my fielders to back me up,' Wirtala told The News Tribune. 'There were definitely some pitches (in the seventh) that could've been called a strike, but I'm glad we finally got it done in the eighth inning.'
Facing a 2-1 deficit in the final frame, Puyallup was down to their final strike without a base runner until an improbable rally pushed Friday's rivalry into extras. Vikings 1B Sophia Wright lashed the first of three straight hits through the infield, capped by Kayla Ringenbach's clutch RBI double that kept the Vikings alive.
'In this league, anything can happen,' Schakel said. 'Puyallup is tough. We knew they were going to be tough. It was definitely a game where we needed to stay mentally tough. I'm proud of our girls.
'And Alanna? Just nails.'
In hindsight, the miscues simply let Wirtala play the hero once more. In the eighth, Jaguars RF Ava Puttler drew an impressive, 13-pitch leadoff walk. Puyallup intentionally walked senior slugger Abygale Redwine when her count reached 3-0 and Wirtala, watching all of it unfold from the on-deck circle, wouldn't let the game slip away again.
A passed ball moved both runners into scoring position before Wirtala drove the eventual game-winning, two-run double to left center. Emerald Ridge's Riley Rooney added a run-scoring sacrifice bunt in the eighth, pushing Wirtala's cushion to three runs as Emerald Ridge's top arm returned to the circle and locked down the final frame in eight pitches.
Wirtala noted her rise-ball as her best pitch of the day, but Schakel countered: 'I don't know what (pitch) doesn't feel good to her.'
'She can throw it all,' he continued. 'I've never seen a pitcher, boys or girls, baseball or softball, that's as accurate as her.
'Back in the day, remember (25-year MLB veteran pitcher) Jamie Moyer? Now, Alanna throws pretty hard, but spotting the ball and moving the ball around… she's an expert at that.'
Following Friday's win, Wirtala is 9-2 with a 2.37 ERA with 14 walks and 91 strikeouts over 65 innings pitched. At the plate, she's slashing .500/.553/.762 with 18 RBI and 11 doubles.
Scoreless in the second inning, Emerald Ridge's Jaycie Lindsay put down a textbook sacrifice bunt that scored Redwine for the game's first run.
Wirtala escaped a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fourth, inducing a strikeout and foulout to end the threat.
Puyallup's Jenny Tuivaiave tied the game at one with a two-out, RBI single in the sixth, but Emerald Ridge took the lead back in the seventh when Kenzie Stolmeier ripped an RBI double to left — all before Puyallup's resilient rally.
'We've seen (Alanna) for three years now, so I think we had a good approach,' Puyallup coach Alec Elliott said. 'We don't love the end result, but you've got to appreciate the battle. I think that'll help us come playoff time.'
After rocky first and second innings, Puyallup starter Kiera Thomas settled in and retired 11 of 12 batters in the middle frames. The senior matched Wirtala's eight innings in a complete game of her own and allowed 10 hits and five earned runs with two walks and five strikeouts. She threw 126 pitches.
Wirtala finished with a team-high three hits (3-for-4) and two crucial RBI in the eighth.
