Blacken’s double helps Lake Stevens edge Shorecrest

SHORELINE — Big hits, tough pitching and extra innings: what a great start to the season.

With Matt Blacken accounting for all of Lake Stevens’ scoring, the Vikings needed eight innings to beat Shorecrest 5-2 Tuesday afternoon in a non-league game that was moved to Shorecrest High School because of rainy weather in Lake Stevens.

“Blacken had a great day at the plate,” Scots head coach Alan Bruns said. “It was a well-played game, the pitchers were making tough pitches and getting out of jams, and the defenses were playing well.”

After hitting solo home runs in the fourth and sixth innings, Blacken snapped a 2-2 tie with a bases-loaded double with two outs in the top of the eighth to lift the Vikings (1-0 overall) to the win.

“They loaded the bases on a walk, a hit batter and a single,” Bruns said. “Blacken had two strikes and hit a good pitch, I thought, a pitch down. He hit a line drive double down the left field line and cleared the bases.”

James Robbins kept Shorecrest (0-1) in the game with a two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh, knotting the score at 2-2 and sending the game into extra innings.

Trailing 2-0 and one out away from a loss, Stefan Orallo beat out an infield single — his second hit of the game — to keep the Scots’ hopes alive. Robbins was up next, and he sent a 2-2 pitch over the fence in center field to tie the score.

“I knew it was gone on contact,” Bruns said. “The whole dugout was yelling ‘its out, its out.’ There was no doubt about it.”

But the Scots’ joy lasted just a half-inning — until Blacken stepped into the batters box.

Robbins also started the game on the mound for Shorecrest (0-1). He recorded eight strikeouts while giving up just one hit — Blacken’s first homer — in five innings.

At Shorecrest H.S.

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Iseri, Blacken (5), Kelly (7), McCarthy (8) and White. Robbins, Jochim (6), Leupold (8) and Desrosier. WP—McCarthy (1-0). LP—Jochim (0-1). 2B—Blacken (LS). HR—Blacken (LS) 2, Robbins (S). Records—Lake Stevens 1-0 overall. Shorecrest 0-1.

Mariner 7, Arlington 4: At Arlington, Dustin Miloff had two hits and got the win on the mound for the Marauders in the non-league game. Tyler McFarland had three hits, scored two runs and drove in a run for Mariner. Kekoa Riggen and Caleb Scarth each had three hits for Arlington.

At Arlington H.S.

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Miloff, Telford (4), McFarland (7) and Saga. Ayres, Huge (6), and Ward. WP—Miloff (1-0). LP—Ayres (0-1). 2B—Geist (A), Riggen (A), Allen (A), Fernandez (M). 3B—Geist (A). Records—Mariner 1-0 overall. Arlington 0-1.

Shorewood 10, Everett 9: At Shoreline, Cole Clerget hit a leadoff home run in the fifth inning to tie the score at eight. Shorewood scored two more runs in the inning and Everett was unable to overcome the deficit.

At Shorewood H.S.

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Gardner, Juarez (4), Juarez (4) and B. Herric. Kuniyeshi, Torrence (4), LeCount (7) Giles. WP— Torrence 1-0. LP—Juarez 0-1. S—LeCount 1. 2B—Dykes (S) 1, LeCount (S) 1, Wells (E) 1. HR—Clerget (S) 1. Records—Shorewood 1-0 overall. Everett 0-1.

Jackson 6, Oak Harbor 3: At Oak Harbor, Danny Oh went 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and an RBI as Jackson took advantage of five fourth-inning Oak Harbor errors to win the non-league contest. Chris Riley had two hits for Oak Harbor. Mike Wishko got the win and Chris McGee picked up the save for the Timberwolves.

At Oak Harbor H.S.

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Wishko, Kellington (4), McGee (6) and Morse. Lura, Riley (4), Richter (6) and Encinas, Koepke (6). WP—Wishko (1-0). LP—Lura (0-1). S—McGee (1). 3B—Oh (J). Records—Jackson 1-0 overall. Oak Harbor 0-1.

Softball

Cedarcrest 1, Burlington-Edison 0 (9 innings): At Duvall, Samantha Boelter’s RBI grounder in the ninth inning scored Sarah Dowd with the game’s only run as the Red Wovles won the non-league contest between 2007 state tournament participants. Dowd’s leadoff single in the ninth was Cedarcrest’s only hit. She stole second and third to set up Boelter’s game-winner. Cedarcrest pitcher Hillary Barker outdueled B-E’s Lindsey Dawson to pick up the victory as both pitchers recorded 16 strikeouts.

At Cedarcrest H.S.

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Dawson and Ribelman. Barker and Botts. WP—Barker (1-0). LP—Dawson (0-1). Records—B-E 0-1 overall. Cedarcrest 1-0.

South Whidbey 3, Friday Harbor 1: At Langley, South Whidbey starter Rebecca Stratton struck out 15 batters to help the Falcons start their season with a non-league victory. Natasha Roberts was 2-for-3 with two singles for South Whidbey and Amanda Spalding batted 1-for-2 with a run scored.

At S. Whidbey H.S.

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Goff and Radden. Stratton and Spalding. WP—Stratton (1-0). LP—Goff (0-1). 2B—Pasco (FH) 1-3. Records—FH 0-1 overall. SW 1-0.

La Conner 2, University Prep 1: At La Conner, relief pitcher Samie Miller scored both of La Conner’s runs in the non-league game, and combined with starter Abi Hedlund to strike out 13 batters. In the bottom of the sixth, Miller walked, advanced to second base on a passed ball, stole third and then scored the game-winner on an RBI single by Tara Gilkey.

At La Conner H.S.

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Dunn and Green. Hedlund, Miller (5) and Hartwick. WP—Miller (1-0). LP— Dunn (0-1). 2B — Swanson (LC), 3B—Miller (LC). Records — University Prep 0-1 overall. La Conner 1-0.

Girls tennis

Shorewood 4, Mariner 0: At Shoreline, Stephanie Lim defeated Ludia Gayvoronskiy 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles as Shorewood defeated Mariner in a Wesco South meet shortened by rain.

At Shoreview Park

Singles—Chatilo (SW) def. Viswanathan 6-1, 6-2; Bang (SW) def. Lang 6-1, 6-2; Hamman (SW) v. Ruscha rained out; Lim (SW) def. Gayvoronskiy 6-0, 6-0. Doubles—Yuen-Yang (SW) v. Bui-Nguyen rained out; McInnes-Strandberg (SW) def. Johnasen-Lacenco 6-1, 6-1; Kim-Beetham (SW) v. Pfeifer-Andrews rained out. Records—Mariner 0-1 league, 0-1 overall. Shorewood 1-0, 1-0.

Girls golf

Wesco South meet: At Lynnwood, Edmonds-Woodway had three players with 20 or more Stableford points to capture the Wesco South meet. Shorewood’s Shannon Quinn had 29 points to earn medalist honors.

At Lynnwood Municipal Golf Course

Nine holes, par 33

Stableford scoring

Team scores — Edmonds-Woodway 104, Shorecrest 68, Shorewood 65, Lynnwood 62

Lynnwood: Casey 16, Berpan 21, McDonel 7, Gahan 10, Holt 8. Edmonds-Woodway: Humann 17, Yoon 21, Johnson 22, Lauber 26, Foster 18. Shorecrest: Hasegawa 24, Rood 21, Gwazdanskas 14, Vanderveen 9. Shorewood: Quinn 29 (medalist), Lagergren 14, Stransky 6, Egan 8, Broulette 8.