Monroe softball stays ‘calm,’ blanks Jackson in road battle

Published 10:00 pm Friday, March 20, 2026

EVERETT — For the first time all afternoon, Holly Pettitt was in a jam.

As Monroe softball built up a 3-0 lead against Jackson at Phil Johnson Ballfields on Friday, the junior pitcher worked through the Jackson order fairly easily the first time around. However, after allowing the first three batters in the fourth inning to reach base, Pettitt suddenly stood in the circle, staring down the go-ahead run at the plate with no outs.

With no margin for error, Pettitt attacked the strike zone. Jackson’s Clara Stone fouled off three straight pitches, but Pettitt didn’t waver, finally getting her to pop up to the catcher Ella Brittingham for the first out. The heat turned up a bit when the next batter sent a grounder straight back to Pettitt, but she fielded it cleanly and threw it home for the force out to prevent a run before getting out of the inning by inducing a flyout in the next at-bat.

“Just hitting my spots,” Pettitt said. “Going inside, outside, just mixing it up. Throwing off speed. The defense did a really good job behind me. Just kept it up all game.”

After preserving the shutout, Pettitt quieted Jackson’s bats for the rest of the game, then added a couple of insurance runs at the plate to help the Bearcats (2-2) pick up a 7-0 win against the Timberwolves (0-4).

Through it all, Pettitt and her teammates remained ‘CALM,’ both in the literal sense and in regards to the acronym Monroe is playing by this season: Coachable, Accountability, Leadership and Mental toughness. Looking to build on last year’s run to the 3A State quarterfinals, those are the key tenets for the Bearcats from first pitch until the final out.

“It showed when (Jackson) had the bases loaded and (Pettitt) was pitching,” sophomore Sophia Jeske said. “I think that really showed with Holly and her mental toughness.”

Pettitt allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out three in the complete-game effort, and she went 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a walk. Jeske and sophomore Tenny Oylear each had two hits, junior Izzy Webster (1-for-4) drove in two runs, and Brittingham worked a walk in each of her three plate appearances.

While the final results have been up-and-down through four games, Bearcats coach Hooch Tuiolenuu has liked the leadership she’s seen from the five seniors on the team, helping to integrate five freshmen into the mix. She’s also happy with the way the team is producing on the field, setting a solid foundation to build on as the team approaches league play.

“Working as a team for us has always been number one,” Tuiolenuu said. “We left so many runners on base this game, and in previous games, that we’re trying to one-by-one score them in. Playing for each other is great.”

Jackson also has a large contingent of freshman contributors, but is in a completely different stage early in the season. After making a run to the 4A State semifinals as the No. 13 seed last year, the Timberwolves graduated Allie Thomsen, The Herald’s All-Area Hitter of the Year, and are left sorting things out with a much younger roster.

It was a hectic offseason as 2023-24 NFHS National Coach of the Year Kyle Peacocke was lined up to return as the head coach after taking a year off, but he ultimately pulled back in October to remain the school’s athletic coordinator after realizing “his heart was no longer in it,” according to coach Larri Werner.

Werner ascended to the head role last season after serving as an assistant on Peacocke’s staff, but he was not re-hired for the 2026 season until January, which left him playing catch-up. With 10 underclassmen on the 15-player roster — including seven freshmen — most of the season so far has been spent experimenting with different lineup and fielding combinations to determine the best overall fit.

“It’s a young team, for sure,” Werner said. “Some great players. I think in the future, they’re going to be the future of the program, so I think they’re really going to stand out here. They’re just young, and we’ll get it going here eventually.”

Werner was satisfied with his team’s defensive performance on Friday, but they ultimately could not capitalize with timely hitting. Freshmen Clara Dorgan and Nicole Burnett each went 2-for-4 to lead the offensive production, while sophomore Alana Banog struck out three and allowed five earned runs on five hits across six innings of relief.

The Timberwolves fell behind early as Oylear ripped a double to center as Monroe’s second batter of the game. Senior Brooke Boswell worked a four-pitch walk, and Oylear managed to get all the way home after senior Vivian Knuckey grounded into a force out to second base.

“Honestly, (I’m) just running as hard as I can until I’m told to stop,” Oylear said. “Our coaches are super good at telling us what to do, and they take big ownership in their decisions for us.”

After Pettitt retired the first three Jackson batters in the bottom of the frame, the Bearcats loaded the bases in the top of the second with two walks and a single. A Brittingham flyout was overturned due to an illegal pitch from Jackson, and she worked a walk before Werner made a switch to put Banog in the circle.

Freshman Maci Pettitt worked a full count, then took Ball Four low and inside to walk in a run and push the lead to 2-0, but Banog got out of the inning by turning a force out at home before inducing an inning-ending double play.

Holly Pettitt continued to mow down Timberwolves batters, and Jeske extended it to 3-0 with an RBI double to deep right field in the top of the fourth. After Monroe escaped the bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the inning, the bats quieted down for both sides until the Bearcats added four insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

Jeske and Oylear led off with back-to-back singles, and Boswell was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jackson picked up the first out by getting a force out at home off a ground ball, but Webster lined a two-run double to center on the first pitch she saw during the next at-bat to push it to 5-0, leaving runners on second and third. Holly Pettitt scored both runners with a single that slipped past second base to set herself up with a 7-0 lead by the time she returned to the circle for the final frame, which she closed out after allowing two base-runners.

“We were able to open the door early in that inning, and we just kept it going,” Holly Pettitt said.

After putting together a complete effort against a 4A opponent, the Bearcats will look to remain ‘calm,’ in every sense of the word.

“I think just understanding we all have each other’s back,” Oylear said. “Just staying super strong in what we believe in, which is energy all the way through the game. I think we could have opened the can a little sooner, but I think staying composed and knowing what we can do is a key to what we do.”