Washington returns to their home away from home to begin their title chase at the State fast-pitch tournament.

This marks the 28th consecutive fast-pitch season the Warriors have made the State tournament, with their streak beginning in October of 1997.

Additionally they’ve made the slow-pitch State tournament each of those years.

They open the State tournament at Devon Park against Adair at noon today (Thursday).

Adair is 28-12 this season and coached by Chase Knott.

They defeated fellow District team Sequoyah-Tahlequah in the Super Regionals to make it to the State tournament.

They won the first game 9-1 before dropping the second game, 10-0.

They prevailed in the “if” game, 8-6.

“Adair is really, really scrappy. They do a lot of the little things right. They run well and they’re super athletic,” said Washington head coach Tylor Lampkin. “They’ll try to out-athlete you and put their kids in favorable positions. I think they had one of the toughest roads here and coach Knott does a great job.”

Adair comes in to the State tournament as the No. 7 ranked team in Class 3A with a 28-12 record.

Lampkin said his team will try to stay loose before the tournament begins.

“We’re just trying to stay relaxed and have fun,” he said. “We’re going to just take it all in.”

Super Regional

Washington dismissed Sperry 3-0 and 8-0 in their two Super Regional games.

Olivia Palumbo struck out 12 batters in a one-hitter performance in the first game.

She helped herself out at the plate as well, going 2-3 with a double and an RBI.

Daphne Palumbo was 1-1 with a pair of RBIs at the dish. She also walked twice.

“It was one of those deals in that game where they had seen a high-level pitcher against Yukon and it took us a little while to adjust to the pitcher we were seeing,” Lampkin said. “We just didn’t string anything together in that first game.”

The Warriors did better at stringing together offense in the second game of the Super Regional.

They combined for 10 hits in the game.

Washington opened with a run in the first inning and two runs in each the second and third innings.

One run in the fourth and two runs in the sixth closed out the game.

Ava Salcedo had a good game at the plate, going 1-3 with a home run and three RBIs.

Kinzlee Pogue and Julie Hoehner were both 2-3 with an RBI each.

Washington’s pitchers threw a gem out of the circle.

Salcedo struck out six batters in five innings.

Olivia Palumbo closed out the game and struck out one batter in an inning of work.

The pitchers combined for a no-hitter.

“I really could have left Ava in but it was the last home game and I wanted Olivia to go out at home,” Lampkin said. “They pitched a great game. From the pitching and defensive side of things, I thought we played really well. We didn’t give up many free bases and they only had one hit on the day. I was pleased with them.”

Washington is 37-3 and ranked No. 2 in Class 3A.