Stanwood softball nine qualifies for district tourney with pair of 1-0 victories
By JOHN GALBREATH Sports Editor
Junior outfielder Elizabeth Barnes scored both runs in two separate 1-0 victories for the Lady Spartan fastpitch team last week.
The Lady Spartan fastpitch team (11-3) sandwiched a pair of gut-it-out 1-0 victories around a let’s-forget-thatone loss to the Western Conference champion Tomahawks from Marysville-Pilchuck (14-0 in league) in the next-tolast week of regular-season play.
A 1-0 edging of Oak Harbor’s Wildcats on Tuesday clinched a playoff spot for the Lady Sparts, but a 14-1 thrashing at the hands of M-P’s Tommies the next day brought home the fact that there’s always room for improvement.
Elizabeth Barnes’ 11th-inning run calmed the local diamond squad’s nerves as they beat Cascade 1-0 on Friday.
Victories over Snohomish yesterday and Monroe today (Tuesday, May 11, there, 4 p.m.) will guarantee that Stanwood will enter next week’s district tournament as the No. 2 representative from the North Division. Two losses, on the other hand, could jeopardize their district placement if the North’s present No. 3 club, Arlington (10-4 with two losses to the Sparts), wins both of their remaining contests.
Not a team to fret over such details, the local lasses will take care of business and prepare to play in districts in Monroe next week.
At Oak Harbor, it was Shawna Hochstetler’s resounding double with two outs in the third frame that brought Stanwood’s lone run, in the person of Elizabeth Barnes, across the plate. That run was enough, however, to beat the Wildcats as senior pitcher Brittany Jeans held the islanders to three singles and no runs while recording 10 strikeouts over the seven innings of play.
Barnes didn’t score until the 11th inning in the Sparts’ single-run triumph over Everett’s Cascade on Friday, but once again Jeans, who whiffed 12 Seagulls and allowed six random hits, and her team’s defense prevailed despite getting just two hits themselves.
In the loss to Marysville Pilchuck, Shawna Hochstetler (2-for-4) hit a home run for the local nine and second baseman Tori Kriegel had a double and drew two walks for Stanwood.
