MONROE — Mike Birch knew it was inevitable.
The Monroe softball coach preached to his team that it would be difficult for a Wesco 4A team to go undefeated this season. Wednesday afternoon, he was proven correct.
Snohomish, the defending Wesco 4A North champion, handed the Bearcats their first loss of the season with a 6-1 league victory at Sky River Park.
“I told them, there’s not going to be any undefeated teams in this conference this year,” Birch said. “You’ve got four really good teams: Jackson, Snohomish, us and Lake (Stevens). … These teams are too good. The competition is too good.”
Snohomish led almost the entire way, with Alyssa Simons (2-for-4) hitting a two-run double in the top of the first inning. Simmons added another RBI double in the third to build the Panthers’ lead.
Catcher Morgan Greenlee’s two-run single in the fifth added a pair of insurance runs for Snohomish (2-1 league, 6-2 overall).
“They’ve got power pitching and are a well-coached team. This is a huge game for us,” said Snohomish head coach Lou Kennedy. “We haven’t had a signature win. I think this is a good one for us. We’re super young and you’ve got to build from that. The kids are like, ‘Yeah, we can do this.’”
Sami Reynolds, Snohomish’s leadoff hitter, went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Panthers, who tallied nine hits in the contest.
“The thing about power pitching is you have to match aggressive pitchers with aggressive hitting and we were excellent with that today,” Kennedy said. “We were staying aggressive and attacking the ball. If you get too picky with a pitcher that talented then you end up chasing her pitches instead of your pitches. We managed to get on the pitches we wanted to see and it worked out.”
Monroe freshman pitcher McKenzie Schulz (6-1) suffered the first loss of her Bearcats career. However, Birch isn’t worried about how his star will respond.
“She’s disappointed. But she won’t have any trouble bouncing back from this at all,” Birch said. “She’s a real tough competitor.”
“McKenzie’s a stud. She’s going to be fine,” agreed Kennedy. “She’ll be focused, she’ll come out more determined. The next time we face her who knows what happens? That’s a really good team. I was really impressed.”
The six runs were more than enough for the Panthers’ pitchers, who combined to allow only one run on two hits. Starter Bailey Greenlee struck out six in four scoreless innings and Simmons took over in the fifth with similar results.
“Our pitchers were really, really on today,” Kennedy said. “They both got a lot of rest. Sometimes you worry are they going to come out rusty or are they going to come out revived and ready to go? They came out revived and ready to go.”
Snohomish had already suffered a couple of losses this season, with the Panthers dropping a 4-1 non-conference contest to Woodinville and losing 4-3 to league rival Lake Stevens — a Vikings squad that Monroe beat 7-1.
“I’m very happy with where we are right now,” Kennedy said. “How can you not be happy with where we are right now? We played a good game against Woodinville and Lake Stevens. We didn’t win either one, but we played well and I’ll take the results.”
Megan Rybar and Kiley Ochoa each hit a double for Monroe (6-1, 8-1), accounting for both of the Bearcats’ hits. Ochoa’s came in the bottom of the fifth and scored Monroe’s lone run.
“They produce at the plate and they did it tonight against some really, really strong pitching,” Birch said of the duo.
Despite suffering the loss, Birch gave the same speech in the Bearcats’ postgame meeting as he always does.
“It’s the same message when we win a game: ‘We won the game, now flush it. We’re moving on. Forget it,” Birch said. “Now, they’ve got to forget this one. The biggest takeaway is every game is going to be a battle.
“Now they know it for a fact.”
At Sky River Park
Snohomish 201 021 0 — 6 9 1
Monroe 000 010 0 — 1 2 2
Bailey Greenlee, Alyssa Simons (5) and Morgan Greenlee. McKenzie Schulz and Morgan Allen. WP—B. Greenlee. LP—Schulz. 2B—Simmons (S) 2, Megan Rybar (M), Kiley Ochoa (M). Records—Snohomish 2-1 league, 6-2 overall. Monroe 3-1, 8-1.
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