Lake Stevens holds off Jackson in pivotal Wesco 4A showdown

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 2, 2017

MILL CREEK — Sara Johnson complemented a masterful pitching performance with an equally impressive day at the plate.

And the standout junior’s heroics were just enough to lift Lake Stevens over its biggest remaining hurdle to an outright Wesco 4A crown.

Johnson tossed a one-hitter and drove in both of her team’s runs, crushing a towering fifth-inning solo homer as the visiting first-place Vikings earned a 2-1 win over Jackson in a pivotal conference showdown Tuesday.

With the victory, Lake Stevens (15-1 overall, 10-1 Wesco 4A) protected its one-game lead over second-place Monroe in the loss column of the conference standings. The Timberwolves (14-3, 8-3) fell into third place with the defeat.

“It’s huge,” Vikings coach Sarah Hirsch said of the win. “Jackson’s tough. They always play us tough, and it was to the last pitch. So for us just to stay focused and take care of what we needed to do (was) huge.”

Johnson continued her brilliant season in the circle with yet another dazzling performance, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finishing with 11 strikeouts and no walks. The only hit she allowed was a sixth-inning solo homer by Jackson junior Kristina Day.

“I was just trying to throw the ball hard and move the ball,” Johnson said. “They have a really strong lineup, and I was just trying to do what I could to make them hit the ball on the ground and miss the ball.”

At the plate, Johnson helped her cause by going 3-for-4 with a run-scoring single in the third inning and a solo homer in the fifth.

Lake Stevens junior Summer Scales led off the third inning with a double to the left-center-field fence and advanced to third base on a soft, two-out blooper that was dropped by a charging shortstop.

Johnson, the ensuing batter, brought home the game’s first run on a line-drive single up the middle that nicked off a leaping second baseman’s glove.

Then after the Vikings stranded runners on second and third in the fourth inning, Johnson provided a crucial insurance run in the fifth by launching a two-out solo homer to dead center that extended the lead to 2-0.

Johnson had faced Jackson sophomore pitcher Iyanla Pennington in a club softball game Saturday, and said the extra repetitions against the Timberwolves ace were beneficial.

“I got a little bit extra of a look on her, and so I knew generally what she was going to throw at me,” Johnson said. “But sequences in high school are different than select, so I was just trying to find the ball. (On the home run), she threw me what looked like a changeup right down the middle, and so I just had to recognize and hit it.”

Day broke up Johnson’s no-hitter with a two-out solo homer to center field in the bottom of the sixth, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Until then, the Timberwolves’ only base runner had come on an error.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jackson’s Taylor Adams reached base on an error and advanced to second on a one-out sacrifice bunt. But with the tying run in scoring position, Johnson sealed the victory with a game-ending strikeout.

“Sara pitched a great game,” Timberwolves coach Kyle Peacocke said. “She’s dialed in right now, doing a really good job.”

The victory was a bounceback win of sorts for Lake Stevens, which suffered its first loss of the season last Wednesday against Monroe.

“We lost a tough one last week,” Hirsch said. “The next day, you could see it in the kids. And we just said, ‘Hey, are you going to roll over or are you going to rise up?’ And they’ve risen up. They’ve taken that challenge.”