BOTHELL — No window was safe in the parking lot behind the Lynnwood softball field Wednesday afternoon.
But it wasn’t just windshields and side mirrors that were breaking. The Royals broke the game open in the third with a four-run inning and Lynnwood pitcher Dasia Lester, who hit a windshield herself at the plate, struck out 15 batters to help lead the Royals to the 6-3 Wesco 3A South win.
“(Lester) was in control,” said Emily Evans, who took over as head coach of the Royals this week for Sara Hall. “She was doing everything that we want her to do. She’s awesome.”
The sophomore struck out the side in the first inning, and seven of the first nine Mountlake Terrace batters to the plate. In the top of the fifth inning she walked two before striking out the side.
Lester (3-2) allowed just three hits in the game.
“She was in the zone those first three innings,” said Mountlake Terrace head coach Shannon Rasmussen, who added that she parked her brand new car as far away from the field as possible. “… She’s a great pitcher and is a sophomore doing big things.”
It wasn’t just on the mound that Lester made her presence felt. Just ask the Dodge Ram that was parked behind the Lynnwood dugout (the truck disappeared soon after Lester’s foul ball). The sophomore also had an RBI triple in the first to start off the Royals’ scoring, and scored later in the inning on a wild pitch.
In the third inning, Lynnwood scored two runs on an error and added two more on a single by Kaleigh Harthun. The Royals finished the game with six hits.
“Everybody was making solid contact and putting the ball in play,” Evans said. “They just did a great job of staying on top of it the whole game.”
Mountlake Terrace made it close in the later innings, cutting the Royals’ lead in half with three runs in the top of the sixth. Hannah Wilcox hit a solo home run, the senior’s third of the season, and Ashley Fitzgerald and Sammy Harter also scored on a Lynnwood error.
“It was kind of a tale of two games,” said Rasmussen. “They won the first half and we kind of came back and were able to hold them and score a few runs. I was hoping the first few innings would have gone a little better on our end. … But they have some hitters that move their runners around and there’s not much we can do about that.
“I think we’re definitely a second-half of the game (team),” Rasmussen continued. “Sometimes it takes us a couple of innings to get going but we keep on battling. I think no matter how many runs we’re down, we’ve showed in our first couple games we always battle back.”
Wilcox (2-for-4) led Mountlake Terrace with two of the Hawks’ three hits.
“She just hits the ball solid, wherever she hits it,” Rasmussen said. “It’s a jumpstart for us when she hit that home run. She’s the spark plug for us out there.”
Both Lynnwood (2-1 league, 3-2 overall) and Mountlake Terrace (1-2, 2-3) hope to compete in a tough Wesco 3A/2A South league and Evans expects the two teams’ next matchup, scheduled for May 6, to be another battle.
“I think we’re evenly matched. They’re a great team, well-coached, and it’s always fun to play kind of our crosstown rival,” Evans said. “We feel good. We feel like we’re in a good spot right now to keep rolling and see where the season goes.”
At Lynnwood H.S.
Mountlake Terrace 000 003 0 — 3 3 1
Lynnwood 204 000 x — 6 6 2
Kira Doan, Sammy Ruiz (4) and Ashley Fitzgerald. Dasia Lester and Angie Martin. WP—Lester (3-2). LP—Doan. 2B—Megan Baker (L). 3B—Lester (L). HR—Hannah Wilcox (MT). Records—Mountlake Terrace 1-2 league, 2-3 overall. Lynnwood 2-1, 3-2.
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