SNOHOMISH — The Snohomish softball team is awfully close to having its 1-2 punch in the pitching circle back to full strength.
Which is not exactly great news for the Panthers’ league rivals.
Snohomish pitchers Alyssa Simons and Bailey Greenlee combined to strike out 11 batters and allowed just two hits in a 6-0 Wesco 4A victory over Mount Vernon Friday afternoon at Snohomish High School.
“They’ve got some great pitching. In softball, at every level, if you’ve got pitching you’ll be pretty good,” Mount Vernon head coach Jay Silver said. “… They’re excellent. One of the things that helps them out is they both throw a great rise ball. And they’re not just out there throwing. They know the game, they know the situation and they hit spots. They don’t put the ball over the middle of the plate. They hit the corners.”
Simons pitched the first four innings, not allowing a hit and striking out six before Greenlee took over in the top of the fifth inning. It was the first trip to the circle in a couple weeks for Greenlee, who injured her ankle a couple weeks ago.
The sophomore struck out five in relief and helped close the shutout for the Panthers.
“Bailey is coming back off an injury — this is probably the first multiple-inning game she’s had,” Snohomish head coach Lou Kennedy said. “She hasn’t gotten to pitch in a game in about two weeks. She rolled an ankle sliding into second so she’s a little bit on the mend. But she looked good.
“Alyssa’s just been a beast and, when she’s at full speed, Bailey is her equal.”
The duo didn’t allow a hit until Mount Vernon freshman Madeleine Hylback, the Bulldogs’ No. 9 hitter, got a single with two outs in the top of the sixth inning.
Sophomore Tyanna Wittman added a double, also with two outs, in the top of the seventh inning for Mount Vernon.
“They don’t play like they’re (underclassmen),” Silver said. “We have some girls that come in and they know who the pitchers are and there’s a lot of fear there. … They’re just competitors. That’s what it comes down to. They just battle.”
Snohomish had a bit more success offensively, with Greenlee and Simons also leading the way in that department. Greenlee got the Panthers on the board with a two-run, inside-the-park home run in the second and Simons added a two-run homer to left field in the third.
“She’s pretty much the full package,” Kennedy said of Simons, a senior who is committed to the University of Washington. “You watch her and look at how fast she is. … She’s got serious wheels, she’s got monster power in her bat. She’s the full package.”
A pair of sacrifice flies by Ruby Sugayan and Carmen Morrison rounded out the scoring for Snohomish (4-1 league, 8-2 overall).
“This game is huge because there’s not a lot of room for error in our league,” Kennedy said. “Once you have one mistake or you have one game where you’re a little off and make a couple errors – there’s no room with the top three, four or five teams to make any mistakes. It’s going to be the team that plays clean and has the least errors in a game that’s going to win it. That’s just what it comes down to.
“We’ve all got pitching, we can all hit the ball well, we all get runners on — the question is who’s going to make the first mistake and that usually changes the game.”
Silver also noted how difficult the Wesco 4A is, calling it one of the toughest leagues in the state. He hopes Mount Vernon (3-3, 8-4) can bounce back and continue to keep pace with the Panthers, Monroe and Lake Stevens in the Bulldogs’ next contest against Kamiak on Tuesday.
“Everybody looks at records and non-conference (records) are great — we came in here 8-3 — but the record means nothing when you get into (league games),” Silver said. “I legitimately believe we have the toughest conference in the state. How many pitchers are going on to college somewhere? I don’t think you see that all the way across the boards in other leagues.”
At Snohomish H.S.
WP: Alyssa Simons (4 IP, 6 K, 0 ER; 1-3, HR, 2 RBI). LP: Paityn Cyr. Individual highlights: Mount Vernon—Tyanna Wittman (1-3, 2B), Madeleine Hylback (1-2); Snohomish—Bailey Greenlee (1-3, HR, 2 RBI), Ame Bridgeman (2-3, R). Records—Mount Vernon 3-3 league, 8-4 overall. Snohomish 4-1, 8-2.
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