Coming into the West Central District III tournament, Auburn Riverside softball ace Amanda Fitzsimmons was confident her team could win its way into the state tourney.

“We’ve been working hard these past couple of weeks and just wanted to put it all out there,” the Ravens senior pitcher said.

On day one of the tourney the team did just that, winning both games and ensuring that it would have a spot in the state tourney.

In round one, the Ravens cruised by Bellarmine Prep 4-0, with freshman Hannah Melick notching two RBIs and Fitzsimmons adding a double and an RBI. On the mound, Fitzsimmons gave up four hits and struck out 11.

In the team’s second game of the day, Auburn Mountainview edged by Stadium 1-0 in extra innings, with Fitzsimmons throwing a two-hitter that included 12 strikeouts. Melick again came up big at the plate with a game winning RBI single.

On the second day of the tourney, the Ravens opened up with a 4-0 loss to eventual second-place champs Central Kitsap, setting up a battle with South Puget Sound League North 4A foes Kentwood. With the Ravens having lost both regular season meetings to the Conquerors this year, the team was chomping at the bit to get a win against its rival, according to Fitzsimmons.

“We were hoping that we would play them no matter what,” she said. “We just wanted to play them, because we’d been very disappointed the first couple of times we played them. We knew we could beat them.”

With Fitzsimmons on the mound, the Ravens defeated Kentwood 8-2 earning the No. 3 seed out of the district tourney into the state tournament.

“We’re very pleased,” Fizsimmons said. “We had so much fun, the most fun we’ve had in a long time.”

Now the team, which is 19-5 overall, will take on Lake Washington at 10 a.m. today at SERA Fields in Tacoma.

“We made it to state and were two and out last season,” Fitzsimmons said. “We don’t want to do that again. We’ve had a lot of team meetings this year, because we have a very young team. Basically we talked about not taking any games or teammates for granted and to always keep it out on the field.

“I know a few of their girls from select ball, but I haven’t seen them play as the Lake Washington team,” Fitzsimmons added. “We got a few pointers from some teams that they’ve played and some people that have seen them play. But we’re just excited to get to play and give it our all.”

ALSO: The Auburn Mountainview fastpitch team failed to move out of the West Central District 3A tourney, going 1-2.

The Lions opened up their tournament with a 4-3 loss to Port Angeles.

The squad rebounded with a 9-1 win over White River. The team spread the scoring around with Andrea Fletcher earning two RBIs and Carin Bell, Deanna Colburn, Amanda Colella, Kristin Herren and Kelley Voss earning an RBI each. Herren earned the win on the mound.

In their final contest the Lions fell 5-4 to Capital.

Auburn Mountainview finishes the season with a 12-12 overall record.