EVERETT — An offensive outburst led the Everett High School fastpitch softball team to 13-7 victory over rival Cascade on Friday at Lincoln Field.
The Seagulls (10-3 overall, 7-1 league) recorded 17 hits in the Wesco 3A/2A game, including long home runs from Hailey Oyler and Isa Davis. Cienna Cannon hit a leadoff homer for Cascade (6-8, 4-5).
“They’re obviously our number one rival,” Everett coach Mike Millar said. “So we knew it was going to be an emotional, hard-fought game on both sides.”
Though the Bruins produced 10 hits themselves, the Seagulls’ pitchers did enough damage with their bats to give themselves some cushion. Freshman starting pitcher Anna Luscher drove in four runs on three hits for the Seagulls, who maintained their third-place position behind Snohomish (9-0) and Stanwood (8-1) in a tight league race. Relief pitcher Mia Hoekendorf singled, doubled and drove in a pair of runs.
Everett built a commanding 13-4 advantage after five innings, but Cascade refused to go away quietly. The Bruins battled to stay away from a game-ending 10-run rule after five innings, and the Seagulls needed 43 pitches to get through the seventh as the Cascade worked to get back into contention by scoring three final runs. Catcher Jaidyn Wilson went 2-for-3 with a double, and Sophia Tripp drove in a pair of runs for the Bruins.
“They did not let up at all,” said Oyler, who went 3-for-3 with a walk. “You can’t get (comfortable), at all — ever.”
That proved to be the theme of the game for the Seagulls, who scored at least a run in every inning and benefited from eight different players getting on base.
Cascade coach Mike Perrine, whose team qualified for state in 2023 with a victory over Everett in the district playoffs, believed it was important for his team to keep fighting to the last pitch. The Seagulls had two runners on base while leading 13-4 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Bruins made certain the game would continue for the final two scheduled innings.
“We’ll never give up out there,” he said. “We could have easily laid over and gone down in the fifth, but it was a pretty good fight.”
After Cannon gave Cascade an early 1-0 lead, the Seagulls took the lead for good in the bottom of the first inning. Luscher’s single sneaked through the infield to drive in Davis and Madeline Pewitt, who just missed a home run by a few feet earlier in the inning. Hoekendorf doubled to drive in the third run of the inning. Everett tacked on another three runs thanks to Oyler’s home run in the bottom of the second.
Though they fell to 10th place in the league, Cascade is currently in position for a district playoff spot with six games remaining in the regular season. The Seagulls have their sites set on an even bigger target.
“We’re feeling really good,” Davis said. “If we win out, we’re conference champions. We’ll see what happens.”
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