Stanwood softball makes first state appearance memorable

PHOTO BY JOHN GALBREATH STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS Lady Spartans (from left): Lyndsay Burrows, Brittany Jeans, Kelsey Musgrove and Sarah Crane celebrate their 4-1 first-round fastpitch victory over top-ranked Rogers of Puyallup Friday afternoon. Taking advantage of their first-ever appearance in the state fastpitch tournament, the Lady Spartan softball team (22-5) finished among the finest 4A clubs in Washington with two wins — one of which was the state's toprated team — and two losses.

Interestingly, the Sparts found themselves facing Rogers of Puyallup in the first round of the state championships. The Rams finished the regular season at the top of the Seattle Times softball poll following their District 3 championship.

Seemingly not awed by that fact, the local nine — who took third at the District 1 tournament last week — battled toe-to-toe with Rogers until a Spartan error followed by a double scored a run to make it 1-0, Rams, in the bottom of the fourth.

In Stanwood's half of the sixth frame, freshman Shawna Hochstetler began with an infield single, ran to second on a passed ball and eventually touched home plate on a throwing error to first base.

It remained knotted 1-1 despite two successive walks given up by the usually stingy Brittany Jeans, the Sparts' ever-so-dependable pitcher. Jeans struck out the next batter before Jordan Nemo hauled in a pop-up for the third out. Catcher Sammy Bingham had gotten the first out with a spectacular catch of a foul ball earlier in the inning.

Then the dam burst in extra innings. Nemo, the Sparts' shortstop, was hit by the Rams' chucker during her at-bat in the top of the eighth frame. Sophomore infielder Tori Kriegel, who has played beyond her years all season long, followed with a fielder's choice that moved Nemo into scoring position.

Bingham knocked her teammate in with a single to center. Taking advantage of ducks on the pond, senior first baseman/ pitcher Corinne Stillman then brought both Kriegel and Bingham around with a hard-liner past the diving second baseman.

That resultant 4-1 lead held up for Stanwood when Rogers went 1-2-3 in the lower part of the inning.

Moving on to the quarterfinals, the Lady Sparts just couldn't seem to generate any offense as Kelso's Hilanders scored a trio of early-game runs to win 3-0, dropping the Spartan nine into a 9 p.m. consolation contest Friday night.

Meanwhile, Kelso moved on to capture the 4A crown with two more victories.

The first consolation contest was a real pleasure for the local fans and parents to watch as the Stanwood girls built a 4-0 margin in the first inning of play against the Raiders of Thomas Jefferson High. Nemo, Kriegel, Bingham and Bosse' all scored on a succession of hits among themselves and another by Stillman.

Jefferson got one back in the bottom of the frame, and there it remained until the fourth as sophomore outfielder Sarah Crane crossed the plate when Jordan Nemo singled into right field. That made it 5-1, and that became the final three innings later.

Saturday morning brought yet another consolation matchup as Stanwood took on the Blue Devils from Walla Walla. Carly Bosse's single brought home Sammy Bingham in the top of the fourth, and that run tied the game at 1-1.

Once again, in what has characterized this team from the season's commencement, the Sparts made some spectacular defense to allow the contest to be tied.

Two notable examples happened to come from the youngster, Shawna Hochstetler, who made a pair of hustling, sliding catches in right field to terminate Blue Devil rallies in successive innings late in the contest.

That brought the game into the ninth inning, where the international tiebreaker rule of placing a runner on second base at the start of each team's at-bat was employed. The Sparts' runner was thrown out by a perfect throw from the catcher during an attempt to steal third, and the next two batters fanned.

Walla Walla's runner was able to swipe third successfully in their half of the frame and then, after a pop-up out, a single was strategically placed over the Spartans' drawn-in infield, and the winning run crossed the dish, much to the dismay of the Stanwood faithful.

The Sparts' battery through all four state games was Brittany Jeans and Sammy Bingham pitching and catching, respectively. That combination had 36 strikeouts, allowed only 14 hits and walked just five enemy batsmen.

With two contests going extra innings, the Spartans outscored their opponents 10-7 over the course of their games.

"We finished the season 22- 5," said coach Cherlyn Schander, "and three of those losses were to teams that finished 1- 2-3 in state. We lost to Kelso, the eventual state champions, when both teams had five hits and just one error apiece.

"The second-place finisher, Mountlake Terrace, beat us 3-2 in 11 innings at districts. Each team had six hits and three errors.

"Walla Walla took third at state after we lost 2-1 in nine innings. We had five hits while we limited them to just three.

"This team should be very proud of their accomplishments during a great season that saw them finish among the top eight teams in the state of

Washington!" she said.