Monroe wins slugfest

Published 9:00 pm Friday, April 9, 2004

MONROE – The Monroe baseball team outscored Lake Stevens 11-8 on Friday.

Oh yeah, that was only the fourth inning.

During an offensive eruption in which hits and runs piled up faster than dirty laundry and pizza boxes in a fraternity house, Monroe outlasted Lake Stevens 20-14 in a Western Conference North Division game.

The mind-boggling slugfest included 30 hits, 34 runs and eight pitchers, including five relievers in the nearly hour-long fourth inning.

“This was the craziest game that I’ve ever seen,” said Monroe coach Neil Henderson, whose team improved to 4-3, 6-4. “It was just one hit after the other.”

In a particularly incredible stretch between the top of the second and the bottom of the fourth, Monroe led 7-2, then trailed 12-7, then went ahead again 18-12. In an inning that yielded far more than an average game’s worth of offense, Lake Stevens (2-3, 6-3) had seven hits and Monroe sent 14 batters to the plate and banged out six hits, including two home runs.

“It was a fun game to be at,” Henderson said, “but I don’t know how many of those you want to be on the field for.”

But when the scoring stopped, Monroe had a victory to show for it. In its two previous games, both losses, Monroe fell behind Marysville-Pilchuck and had trouble generating a rally, Henderson said. Thursday at practice, the coach told his players that a game is never over. He cited the best examples he could think of, including some classic Mariners’ comebacks, to motivate his charges. Then Henderson witnessed a better one.

“Just by coincidence, this game turned out to be the best example,” he said.

Neil Manthe’s two-run home run to left field in the fourth gave Monroe a 16-12 lead. Two batters later, Andy Ranko added a two-run blast to give the Bearcats an 18-12 advantage. Overall, Manthe was 3-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored.

Also for Monroe, Scott Bailey was 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI.

Monroe reliever Michael Brady (1-0) was able to finish the final 3 1/3 innings, allowing two runs.

For Lake Stevens, Matt Fields, Brandon Crain and Grant Kottsick were all 3-for-5 with three RBI.

Mount Vernon 5, Cascade 3: Brandon Gates pitched 4 2/3innings, allowing one earned run and striking out four, to lead Mount Vernon in the Wesco North game. Joe Garcia struck out two of the three batters he faced in the seventh to earn the save. Jeremy Stevens had a two-run triple for Cascade.

Stanwood 18, Arlington 6: Bobby Lowe ignited the Stanwood offense, hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning in the Wesco North game. Lowe finished with five RBI.

Marysville-Pilchuck 9, Oak Harbor 2: Brandon Williams was a home run short of hitting for the cycle, batting 4-for-5 with a double, triple and five RBI to lead Marysville-Pilchuck to the Wesco North victory. Josh Short added a double and a triple and scored two runs for the Tomahawks. Oak Harbor’s Kyle Isaacson and Marshall Lobbestael both batted 2-for-3.

Meadowdale 7, Shorecrest 2: Porter Balke pitched a complete game and batted 2-for-3 with four RBI to lead Meadowdale to the Wesco South win. Sam Kastel had a two-run home run for Shorecrest.

Jackson 13, Shorewood 3: Joey Petosa, Curt Nelson and Travis Snyder all homered for Jackson in its Wesco South win over Shorewood. Chris Bowen added three RBI and John Wahl was 4-for-4 for the Timberwolves. Jeff Brower was 2-for-3 with a triple for Shorewood.

Mountlake Terrace 6, Everett 5 (8 innings): Chris Schuyler hit a run-scoring groundout to second base with one out in the top of the eighth inning to drive in Nate Nicholson and give Mountlake Terrace the Wesco South victory. Nicholson was 2-for-4 with one RBI. For Everett, T.J. Gaffney was 2-for-4 with a double and Owen Dykstra was 2-for-3.

Edmonds-Woodway 12, Mariner 2: Kyle Torgerson batted 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI to lead Edmonds-Woodway to the Wesco South win.

Kamiak 17, Lynnwood 0: Kamiak pitcher Brian Ouellette had a perfect game for 4 2/3 innings and finished the Wesco South contest with a one-hitter. The Knights mounted a 17-hit attack, 16 of them singles. Jesse Wight was 3-for-3 with three RBI, Geoff Brown was 3-for-4 with three RBI and Tim Reed was 2-for-2 with three RBI.

Lakewood 7, Lynden Christian 5: Lakewood broke open the North Cascades game by scoring five runs without an RBI in the sixth inning. The Cougars had two walks, two infield hits and capitalized on two Lynden Christian errors. Ronnie Morton led off the game with a home run for Lakewood.

South Whidbey 4, Granite Falls 2: Dane Guetlin hit a two-run home run to center field to provide the game-winning margin for South Whidbey in the North Cascades game. Also for South Whidbey, Joey Smith hit a two-out, two-run single to left in the second. Billy Villegas of Granite Falls was 2-for-4 with a double.

Meridian 8, Mount Baker 0: Pitcher Jordan Slesk of Meridian struck out nine and walked none in a complete-game North Cascades victory. For Meridian, Mac VanDiest doubled, homered and had a team-high three RBI and Brian Black doubled and tripled.

Boys golf

Archbishop Murphy 209, Friday Harbor 214: Archbishop Murphy’s Ben Waiss birdied the second and ninth holes, however, it was Friday Harbor’s Matt Cowell who medaled with a 36 in the Northwest A meet.

Boys soccer

Meadowdale 3, Edmonds-Woodway 0: Aaron Roberts headed in two goals on 30-yard throw-ins from Colin Kosco for Meadowdale in the Wesco South game. Solly Gold also scored for the Mavericks.

Mountlake Terrace 7, Lynnwood 1: Marcus Hanna scored three goals and Jon Carreno and Collin Duff each had a goal and two assists for Mountlake Terrace in its Wesco South win.

Mariner 3, Shorecrest 1: Nick DeSimone, Juan Mercado and Ken Mishima scored Mariner’s goals in its Wesco South opener. Michael Dwyer scored for Shorecrest.

Shorewood 4, Kamiak 0: Senior forward Eric Sather scored twice, first in the 15th minute and later in the 58th, and George John added his team-high seventh goal of the season to boost Shorewood to the Wesco South victory. Goalkeeper Reed Renfrow made five saves for his first shutout of the season.

Softball

Archbishop Murphy 8, Brewster 2: Winning pitcher Kayelynne Huggins had a season-high 15 strikeouts to lead Archbishop Murphy to the non-conference victory. Shelby Clapper was 3-for-3 with a double and four RBI for the Wildcats and Huggins was 2-for-3.

Girls golf

Friday Harbor 65, Archbishop Murphy 56: Pearl Schumen took top honors with 27 modified Stableford points to lead Friday Harbor in the Northwest A meet.