MILL CREEK — Snohomish softball coach Lou Kennedy picked the perfect time to tell his team that it had clinched the No. 1 seed from the Wesco 4A going into the district tournament.
With the Panthers leading Jackson, which had runners on first and second base with no one out, 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning of Tuesday’s Wesco 4A regular-season finale for both teams, Kennedy told his team, “‘I’ve got to tell you guys something, we’re the one seed no matter what.’”
The news calmed the Panthers, who retired the next three batters for the one-run victory and the regular-season league championship.
The Timberwolves entered the game with a chance to tie Snohomish for the league championship, but Snohomish had already locked up the top seed going into the district tournament thanks to a preseason draw of numbers where the lowest number drawn takes the higher seed in a tiebreaker situation.
Kennedy knew his team had the top seed locked up going into the game, but failed to share that with his players — except his senior catcher Morgan Greenlee.
“Morgan is the only one I talked to at all because I knew she could keep it a secret,” Kennedy said. “I told her at the beginning of the game that we were already the one seed. ‘This game matters to us because we want to be conference champs, but it’s not going to change our seeding, but you’ve got to keep that between us.’ If it was a freshman they would have blabbed like crazy.”
Kennedy might not be able to trust his freshmen to keep a secret, but he can trust them to just about everything else he’s asked them to do this season. The Panthers start six and sometimes seven freshman and it has paid off with a 13-1 league record, two games better than any other Wesco 4A team and good enough for the Panthers’ second consecutive league championship and their third in four seasons.
“This means we have a big road ahead of us,” Greenlee said. “I’m really excited to see the freshman come up. They’ve really done a good job of executing what needs to be done — especially for us seniors that really want to get this conference championship.”
All of the game’s scoring took place in the first three innings. The final four innings turned into a pitcher’s duel between Jackson’s Sophia Frost and Snohomish’s Alyssa Simons.
Trailing by one run, Jackson brought its best offensive weapons to the plate for the bottom of the seventh inning. Frost led off the inning and was followed by freshman Sam Mutolo and senior Kayla Ellis. Frost led off with a single and Mutolo walked to give Jackson runners on first and second with no one out.
“I’ll take my chances in that situation any time,” Jackson head coach Kyle Peacocke said. “It didn’t happen for us today, but those are the kids you want up there in that situation.”
Sensing his team might be panicking, Kennedy went to the pitcher’s circle to tell his secret.
“I needed them to calm down,” Kennedy said. “We’re very, very young. That’s three freshmen in that infield. When I went to the circle, Morgan went, ‘Yeah, he already told me.’ It was pretty fun. You’ve got to loosen them up somehow.”
Simons retired the next three batters in order after Kennedy’s visit.
Snohomish scored five runs in the first two innings to take a 5-0 lead, but did it with just three hits. The biggest of the three hits was a two-run double to straight-away center field by Simons that seemed to reach the wall in a split second.
“She just crushed it,” Kennedy said. “She’s got a monster bat right now and she’s a tough out.”
Jackson answered with four runs in the bottom of the second inning that included a two-run home run by Taylor Adams.
Each teams scored one run in the third inning.
The loss puts Jackson in a tie with Lake Stevens for second place in the league. Though the regular-season schedule concluded on Tuesday, Jackson and Lake Stevens will play on Thursday with the winner securing the second seed in next week’s district tournament.
At Jackson H.S.
Snohomish3210000—683
Jackson0410000—581
Bailey Greenlee, Alyssa Simons (4) and Morgan Greenlee. Sophia Frost and Kayla Ellis. WP—Greenlee. LP—Frost. S—Simons. 2B—Alyssa Simons (S), Joy Winston (S), Ame Bridgeman (S), Tiana Lopez (J), Shayla Hendrickson (J). HR—Taylor Adams (J). Records—Snohomish 13-1 league, 17-2 overall. Jackson 11-3, 16-4.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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