One of the greatest thrills any athlete can experience is being carried off the field of competition by your joyous teammates.

Alas, there was a shortage of strong backs to hoist high this year’s team of plucky Spartan softballers at Lacey’s Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey last Friday.

Instead, the Bainbridge High Spartans did the best they could with the squad’s four standout seniors.

Head Coach Liz McCloskey pulled Riley Gregoire onto her shoulders, while Assistant Coach Nicole Hebner gave an impromptu piggy-back ride to Kate Kinney. Natalya Niehaus raised up teammate and fellow Emma Lindsay as all six Spartans laughed and a mob of parents took photos with their cell phones.

True, it wasn’t the storybook ending that Spartan fans had hoped would play out at the 2015 3A Washington State Softball Championships.

The fairy tale finish went off-script early, on the first day of the tournament, as Bainbridge battled Edmonds-Woodway and lost, 7-6, in the first game.

The drama wasn’t over, however, as the Spartans went into the consolation bracket and outlasted North Thurston, 8-7, to set up a late Friday showdown against top contender Meadowdale, which had lost via a seventh-inning, three-run homer in the game before.

The Spartans had a rough ride with the Mavericks, which reeled off 11 unanswered runs before Bainbridge came alive offensively in the bottom of the fifth inning to stave off an early exit in their final game.

Though Bainbridge finished 1-3 at state, the excitement of the first two games and the never-say-die finish in the third made this trip to state one for the ages.

And the drama?

“Too much for my liking,” laughed Coach McCloskey. “I need some new hair dye.”

It was the ninth consecutive trip to state for the Spartans, an amazing accomplishment by any standard.

“The hard part is, not every team can finish first.” McCloskey said. “Not every team finishes with a win. But I’m proud of them. It’s been a long road. And nine years is a long time to get back here.”

“I’m proud of them. We made some dopey mistakes, but that’s going to happen,” she added. “You’re playing the best of the best, and when you get here, and it’s the last 16 teams, you never know what can happen.”

Bainbridge finished the season with a 17-10 record. It was a campaign that included a tie for the Mountain Division title in the Metro League, a third-place finish in the Metro League Tournament, a second-place finish at the SeaKing District Tournament — the highest ever for the fastpitch team — and a tie for ninth place at state.

The Spartans’ appearance got off to a rousing and nerve-wracking start.

Bainbridge took a 1-0 lead over Edmonds-Woodway in the first inning, then the Warriors fought back and built a 5-1 lead by the fourth inning.

The Spartans scored three times in the sixth, and again in the seventh, to tie the game at 5-all and force an extra inning.

The Warriors put up another two runs, however, and Bainbridge added another but came up one run short, 8-7.

Deahna King pitched a strong game but found no mercy from the Warriors.

“The first game was a little frustrating for us as coaches, because when you don’t get the balls and strikes that you would normally get,” McCloskey said. “Deahna probably averages two walks a game and to have eight within the first four innings is unacceptable. But it’s not unacceptable on her part; it’s really behind the plate.

“But you can’t blame a game on an umpire. Our offense needed to start a little bit sooner. I think we could have taken advantage of a lot more offensively, unfortunately, we just fell short,” she added.

Then came Game 2, against North Thurston, and another nail-biter.

The Spartans again fell in a hole, and trailed 3-1 in the third, then 4-1 in the fourth after the Rams’ Makenzie Hilligoss-Jones connected on a triple to center field.

In the fifth inning, however, Natalya Niehaus drilled a homer and the Spartans plated four runs in the inning to move ahead, 5-4.

The Rams responded with three runs in the top of the seventh to forge a 7-5 lead.

But BHS freshman Sara Colley won the game for Bainbridge with a two-run, walk-off single that had the Spartan fans on their feet and screaming.

“I was really just trying to get one hit,” she said.

The pitch, Colley said, was nearly perfect.

“It was right down the middle; it was a really good pitch. And I just really needed to drive that. It hit right in the sweet spot,” she said.

As she rounded second, she saw her teammates cross home plate and the dugout empty.

“That was huge,” her coach said of the hit. “Especially to be in that position as a freshman; you’ve got runners at second and third. One out.

“I told her, I said, ‘Go up and have fun. If you get a base hit like your last at bat, you automatically score Maddie. And there’s a good chance that Natalia is going to score as well. So just be prepared for that.’”

Needless to say, she was.

“She wasn’t going to hesitate on that first strike right over the middle of the plate. I’m proud of her,” McCloskey said.

The Spartans knew they had their work cut out for them against Meadowdale, one of the favorites to take this year’s 3A title.

“We knew coming in, they had 40-plus home runs. Unheard of; unprecedented, from any other team,” the coach said.

Indeed, it was a big hit parade from the Mavericks from the start; three runs in the first, two each in the second and third, then four more in the fourth. Three players from Meadowdale blasted homers.

“That’s a great hitting team; they’ve got a great team,” McCloskey said.

To a person, the Spartans said they gave it their all.

“We played amazing. We pushed until the end,” said King, who pitched all three games. “No one should really hold their head. We did what we came out to do; we played our hearts out.”

Gregoire said the Spartans never quit, even when they were behind by double digits.

Bainbridge battled back and avoided a mercy-rule finish.

“I’m really proud of our team for sticking it out in the end and actually going through the whole seven innings. That was really nice,” she said. “It gave us just those innings of high school softball. It was exciting.”

The entire team contributed, Gregoire said.

“They are amazing. I mean, Sarah’s late hit in the clutch, oh my gosh.

“They held their own. They’re great players,” Gregoire said.

McCloskey agreed with the Spartans’ big showing at the end.

“They were not quite ready to be done yet, that’s for sure. It shows what heart they have. It’s a good group of kids,” she said.

It was a bittersweet moment for McCloskey after she carried Gregoire off the field, one of the seniors that helped carry this Spartan squad so far.

“They’ve worked hard for four years. I’m definitely proud of them; we’re going to miss them. They’ve been great to have around; they motivate everybody else. It’s unfortunate I can’t clone them all,” she said.