Seek finds her good stuff in Snohomish softball win

SNOHOMISH — Bailey Seek wasn’t thrilled with her pitching performance earlier in the week against Monroe.

However, she was quite pleased after a dominating performance on Thursday.

Seek struck out 12 batters in a no-hitter against crosstown rival Glacier Peak, helping Snohomish defeat the Grizzlies 11-0 in a five-inning nonleague game at Glacier Peak High School.

“I struggled at the beginning of the week so I think my mentality was a little different,” Seek said. “I did not want to pitch like that again. I just made sure that I focused on going right at them and not getting behind in the count.”

Earlier in the week Seek allowed two home runs against Monroe. Seek and the Panthers still defeated the Bearcats 12-7, but the Snohomish starter wasn’t incredibly pleased with her performance on what she called “an off day.”

Now, Seek feels like she’s back on track.

After walking her first batter of the game, Seek stuck out the next eight Grizzlies she faced at the plate. Aside from that leadoff walk to Glacier Peak’s Nina Kim, Seek didn’t allow another baserunner the rest of the way.

“She was just dealing,” said Snohomish head coach Lou Kennedy. “She’s always had really overpowering stuff but today was probably the most complete game I’ve seen her pitch in a while. It was quite nice. She put the curveball where she wanted to, she put the rise ball where she wanted to and when you’ve got a pitcher that’s doing that batters are just hung out to dry because they can’t guess what’s coming.”

Seek also had a big day at the plate, batting 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored.

“That’s pretty overpowering all by herself,” Kennedy said.

Snohomish (6-0 overall) got out to a fast start with four runs in the first inning. Aided by two Glacier Peak errors, the first four Panther batters to the plate got on base and scored. The Panthers added four more runs in the third inning when Seek led off the inning with the first of four-consecutive base hits.

All four batters again scored, giving Snohomish an 8-0 lead.

“We knew they were going to be a really big challenge and we came out and kind of made mistakes and against a good team like that — they took advantage,” said Glacier Peak head coach Caitlin Nies. “They were able to get out to a big lead.”

Vanessa Jackson was 2-for-3 with an RBI double and a run scored and freshman Natalie Campbell went 3-for-3 with two runs scored.

As a team, Snohomish had 12 hits and 11 runs, ending the game after the fifth inning because of a Washington Interscholastic Activities Association mercy rule.

“Our bats have been alive all season,” Seek said. “That’s really nice to see and I’m glad that we kept that going.”

The bottom-half of the Snohomish lineup drove in six of the Panthers’ 11 runs. The Snohomish coach was thrilled with the offensive performance, especially against a strong pitcher in Glacier Peak’s Callie Bircher — an All-Wesco 3A South first-team selection last season.

“When you get the bottom half of your order driving in runs you’re going to score a lot of runs,” Kennedy said. “For us, that was outstanding. Callie Bircher, she’s a great pitcher. Whether it was guessing right, or just a matter of sitting on the right pitch, it worked out.”

In the other dugout, Nies hopes Glacier Peak (4-4) learns from the game and becomes more aggressive as the Grizzlies prepare for their tough Wesco 3A South league.

“The good news is this is a nonconference game for us, so we’re trying to get better and learn from these games,” Nies said. “We’re trying to be more aggressive and be more hungry when we come out and play these good teams.”

Thursday was senior day for both teams, with the Snohomish and Glacier Peak squads honoring their seniors in a pre-game ceremony on the field.

At Glacier Peak H.S.

Snohomish 404 21x x — 11 12 0

Glacier Peak 000 00x x — 0 0 4

Bailey Seek and Morgan Greenlee. Callie Bircher, Lauren Nicksic (6) and Coral Hjert. WP—Seek (4-0). LP—Bircher (4-4). 2B—Vanessa Jackson (S). 3B—Trysten Melhart (S). Records—Snohomish 6-0 overall. Glacier Peak 4-4.