Shorewood softball clinches first state berth in 27 years

Published 12:30 am Friday, May 15, 2026

EVERETT — Nothing was going to stop Ellie Van Horn from leading Shorewood softball to the 3A State Tournament.

Not a Snohomish lineup that won the loaded Wesco North 3A/2A with a 10-0 league record. Not a line drive she took to the shin during Tuesday’s District 1 3A Tournament games, which put her start in the circle at Phil Johnson Ballfields on Thursday in jeopardy. Not Shorewood’s program history, which lacked a trip to state in this millennium.

So when Snohomish put a runner on third in each of the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings of the winner-to-state consolation game on Thursday, it ultimately would not matter. Van Horn shut the door on all of them.

After finally receiving the run support she needed in the top of 11th, the senior struck out her 17th batter of the day in the bottom of the frame to secure a 4-2 victory for the No. 3 seed Stormrays (14-9) against the top seeded Panthers (19-4).

For the first time since 1999, Shorewood will play in the state tournament.

“I think I might be the happiest I’ve ever been,” Van Horn said. “I’m just so happy I get to play with these people for longer. We all knew coming into (Thursday), we couldn’t be done today. We would not accept stopping our season here, and I think we just all trusted each other so much, and although it was a slow start, we knew we were going to break the door open.”

Upon getting her final swing-and-miss to end the game, Van Horn jumped up and down in the circle three times before running to her catcher, senior Lillian Perreault, and wrapping her in a big hug. The infielders and dugout collapsed into a jumping mosh pit around them as the outfielders sprinted in to join.

As the players, wiping away tears of joy, posed for a team photo in front of the scoreboard in the outfield, coach Paul Jensen stood off to the side with his hands on his knees. It took the longtime Stormrays coach a few minutes to gather himself.

“I’m just so proud of this team,” Jensen said. “Because we’ve been through a lot. We’ve had injuries. We’ve had horrible weather, all kinds of things. Ultimately, with these girls, it’s about their mental toughness and resilience.

“There were plenty of times this season when we went down, and we came right back. Sometimes we fell short, but we always fought ‘til the very end.”

Van Horn allowed seven hits and three walks to go with her 17 strikeouts, while junior Alyssa Carver and senior Maddie Schilperoort each had two hits and one RBI to lead the offense.

Snohomish senior Abby Edwards somehow topped Van Horn with 22 strikeouts in 11 innings, allowing just one walk and seven hits. The two-way star also went 2-for-4 at the plate with a home run, and sophomore Amelie Lopez went 3-for-5 with an RBI.

As Shorewood celebrated a euphoric end to a state tournament drought, the Panthers experienced a stunning end to their season.

Following back-to-back state championship appearances in 2023 and 2024, and a trip to the state semifinals as the 10th seed last season, Snohomish entered this year’s district tournament as the top seed with aspirations for another deep run at state. But after a quarterfinal loss to No. 8 Everett on Tuesday and Thursday’s loss to the Stormrays, it’s the end of the road.

“These guys played their hearts out this year, and I’m so proud of them. I really am,” Panthers coach Patti Lande said. “Now, for whatever reason, this tournament wasn’t our tournament, but they really did us proud all the way up to here. Did me proud, did our program proud, so I love these kids. I really do.

“I just hate it for each one of them that it has to end here.”

The thought of a season-ending loss was the furthest thing from Snohomish’s mind when Edwards blasted a solo home run to left field as the Panthers’ second batter of the game. After working ahead 2-0 in the count, Edwards connected on her first swing to give the Panthers an early 1-0 lead.

As the strikeout totals would convey, Van Horn and Edwards engaged in a back-and-forth pitching duel all evening. From the second inning through the fifth, the two teams combined for just four hits, while the pitchers totaled 15 strikeouts (eight for Edwards).

Shorewood finally gained traction in the top of the sixth. Freshman Zoey Perreault led off with a double on a fly ball that just barely fell behind the center fielder’s glove, and Schilperoort bunted her over to third. Snohomish intentionally walked senior Grace McLaughlin, putting the onus on Carver to bring in the tying run with two outs.

Knowing she needed to clutch up, Carver delivered with an infield single on an 0-2 count down the third base side, scoring Perreault and tying it 1-1.

“I just knew that we had runners on that we needed to score to keep playing,” Carver said. “… They were throwing a lot of high (pitches), so I would step back a little bit, so I could catch that and just make contact.”

Edwards struck out the next batter to end the inning, and the Panthers got right to work putting pressure on Van Horn to pull back ahead. Not only did Snohomish get a runner on third in five straight innings down the stretch, it had runners on second and third in four of them.

Van Horn held all of them at bay, even stranding loaded bases in the 10th to preserve the score at 2-2.

“I just really trust in myself and my team,” Van Horn said. “I feel like oftentimes, you can kind of get scared by the pressure, but we like to say, ‘Pressure’s a privilege,’ and so it’s a blessing to be in that position. Getting to pitch in that situation, to those people, I’m just so grateful for that. I don’t think I ever thought I would be in that situation going into this game.”

The line drive Van Horn took to the shin on Tuesday was precarious enough that Jensen prepared three different lineup combinations heading into Thursday in case she was unable to pitch, hit or both. Van Horn ended up pushing through, wanting to prove she could overcome it.

After heading to extras tied 1-1, the Stormrays jumped ahead 2-1 in the 10th. Junior Cailin O’Leary grounded into a fielder’s choice up the middle, and the Panthers air-mailed the attempted putout at third, which allowed extra-innings ghost runner Rose Gallagher to score.

Edwards locked in to strike out the next two batters, and Lopez tied it back up 2-2 at the bottom of the frame with an RBI single to right, scoring the ghost runner Shelby Gilbert.

However, in the 11th, the Stormrays would pull ahead for good.

After fouling off the first pitch, Schilperoort ripped an RBI double to center and advanced to third on the throw as ghost runner Zoey Perreault scored from second. Lillian Perreault hit a sacrifice fly to right field in the next at-bat to score Schilperoort and extend the lead to 4-2.

“I feel like just playing our game,” Schilperoort said as the key to finally breaking through. “We’re not afraid to bunt the ball. We’re not afraid to fake bunt hit. Just doing whatever we can to get on base. Doing your part when you’re at bat, just taking as many pitches as you can, making the pitcher work as hard as she can, and just sticking your bat out there because we’re just expecting hits, so that was really awesome to see that happen and come through.”

Van Horn notched two more strikeouts in the bottom of the 11th to punch Shorewood’s ticket. Once the celebration of the program’s landmark achievement dies down, focus will shift to getting ready for as deep a run as possible in Lacey next week. The biggest key for Jensen: Keep doing what they’ve been doing.

“We can’t change anything because that’s what got us here,” Jensen said. “Before the game, I said, ‘We belong here.’ We do what got us here, and we’re going to be successful.”

Stanwood 10, Meadowdale 1

The No. 5 seed Spartans (19-4) were in control after their two-run first inning against the No. 11 seed Mavericks (11-13) in Thursday’s winner-to-state consolation game, but with the score just 3-1 through four innings, the lone state tournament berth remained in reach for both sides.

That was until junior Jordan Rancourt crushed a two-run shot to give Stanwood a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. After giving junior Addi Anderson some breathing room in the circle, Rancourt would drive in another run in the sixth as part of a five-run rally to lead Stanwood to a 10-1 victory, securing a berth to the 3A State Tournament.

“It was a huge boost,” said Anderson, who got aboard with a walk right before the homer. “It literally changed our mood instantly. We all just started thinking, ‘Oh, we got this right here. We can do it.’ It really just started a rally and a shift in the whole mood.”

Rancourt went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored, and freshman Mads Archer also went 3-for-4 while driving in two runs. Anderson pitched all seven innings, notching eight strikeouts and allowing just four hits in the victory. She drove in two runs at the plate.

Anderson and Rancourt opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as the pitcher and catcher hit back-to-back RBI singles to take a 2-0 lead. After their hopes of defending last year’s District 1 3A title ended with a loss to No. 8 Everett in the semifinals on Tuesday, the Spartans went back to basics.

“At practice, we just went through hitting and fielding, dailies and all of that, and we just left practice feeling good,” Anderson said. “That’s all we wanted to do. We’re like, ‘Let’s just field good, hit smooth,’ and that’s it. We only practiced for an hour-and-a-half or two hours because we literally just wanted to feel good, and once we were good, we were done.”

Ultimately, it paid off. Senior Taylor Almanza pushed the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the second, and four straight batters brought in runs in the sixth after Rancourt’s homer to push it to 10-1.

Senior Madison Mitchell brought in the lone run for Meadowdale with an RBI single in the third, and sophomore Payton Aldridge struck out five and walked two across all six innings. The Mavericks were searching for their first state tournament berth since 2019, but will have to wait another year.

As for the Spartans, they will look to top last year’s run to the 3A State quarterfinals, where they were upset as the top seed by No. 8 seed Garfield 5-4.