Jackson capitalizes on Everett miscues in 3-2 win
Published 8:34 pm Wednesday, March 30, 2016
MILL CREEK — When the Jackson softball team needed to rally trailing Everett by a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, senior outfielder Kristen Scott used her head — literally.
With Scott at bat, Everett senior catcher Whitney Harris attempted to pick off Jackson sophomore Sam Mutolo at third base, but the throw hit Scott in the head and bounced out of play, allowing Mutolo to score the tying run. The Timberwolves scored the go-ahead run moments later and held on to defeat the Seagulls 3-2 on Wednesday.
“It was a weird game,” Jackson head coach Kyle Peacocke said. “I’ve seen a lot of fastpitch games in 18 years and a lot of times it comes down to who makes mistakes and they made a few defensive mistakes and our base-runners were able to take advantage of it. It’s one of those things where we were definitely fortunate in a couple of situations today the way the ball bounced.”
Jackson led 1-0 after four innings, but Everett finally got to Jackson’s senior starting pitcher Sophie Frost in the top of the fifth inning. Frost gave up four of the five hits she allowed in the inning, including RBI singles to senior Erin Gordon and her sister, sophomore Megan Gordon.
The Seagulls’ lead didn’t last long. The Timberwolves responded in the bottom of the fifth thanks in large part to the base running of sophomore catcher Mutolo. Mutolo walked with one out and subsequently stole second and third to be in a position to score on the throw off Scott’s head. Scott went on to reach base on an error by the first baseman that would have ended the inning and junior Taylor Adams scored on the play to give Jackson a 3-2 lead.
Frost worked perfect sixth and seventh innings to pick up her seventh victory of the season.
“Sophie is a rock,” Peacocke said. “I think she would probably tell you that she made one mistake to their No. 8 hitter that kind of opened the door for them to get those two runs in the fifth inning, but after that she was lights out and that’s typical of Sophie. She rarely allows big innings and she’s able to battle back from adversity and is just a great leader.”
After starting the season 5-0, the Seagulls have their own share of adversity to battle back from. Wednesday’s loss made it two losses in as many days for Everett, which lost a league game to Marysville Pilchuck on Tuesday.
“We have a couple of new players on the team this year so we’re still trying to figure things out and figure out how to put those players in the best position to be successful and for us to be successful,” Everett head coach Mike Millar said. “We looked a little better today and everyday we’re going to keep working to get better and I think we’re already past the losses.”
The Seagulls lost just two games all of last season, one to Jackson in the regular season and the other to Juanita in the 3A state championship game.
At Jackson H.S.
WP: Sophie Frost (7-0; CG, 5 H). LP: Sydney Taggart (5 IP, 4 H, 2 K). Individual highlights: Everett—Megan Gordon (2-3, 2B, RBI), Erin Gordon (RBI); Jackson—Sam Mutolo (1-2, BB, 2 SB), Taylor Adams (1-2, BB, 2 R). Records—Everett 5-2 overall. Jackson 7-0.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
