Because of rain Friday and Saturday morning, the final wasn't completed until about 2 a.m. Sunday. But Cleveland's Lady Raiders ultimately won their own MurMaid Mattress Classic softball tournament, beating Silverdale Baptist Academy 4-1 in four innings.
Cleveland's Carly Frost threw a three-hitter with no earned runs, one walk and nine strikeouts in a 4-3 eight-inning semifinal victory over Arts & Sciences, and she had an RBI and scored twice. Nanea Haruo had the winning RBI with a two-out single.
Haley Hodgson was the winning pitcher and drove in a run in the championship game. Kayla Lee earned the save. Abi Dye, whom coach Connie Stobert credited for sparking Cleveland's offense in the tournament, was 2-for-2 with two RBIs in the final, and Brittany Arnold had a hit, an RBI and scored a run.
"This definitely has to be a confidence boost for us," said Stobert, whose team came in 0-2, lost its first two games in pool play, then won four consecutive. "We'd been struggling to get our bats going. We've been working a lot on hitting. I was proud of all of them. They showed a lot of heart and desire this weekend."