MONROE — Through five scoreless innings, it looked like the kind of softball game that could end up being decided by a single run.
In the bottom of the sixth, Snohomish’s Joy Winston gave the Panthers that one run they needed plus one more with one powerful swing.
Winston, a hard-hitting sophomore, stroked a two-run home run to right-center field as the Panthers broke the deadlock and then held on to beat Monroe 2-0 on Saturday afternoon. The victory, in the final game of the Class 4A District 1 tournament, sends Snohomish to next weekend’s state tourney for a third straight season and ended Monroe’s season.
With one out and one on in the sixth, Winston stepped to the plate against Monroe ace McKenzie Schulz. On the first pitch, Winston got hold of a fastball on the outer part of the plate and blasted a rocket over the outfield wall.
“I was just thinking base hit,” Winston said. “I just wanted to put the ball in play. But when I saw it go over (the fence) I was like, ‘Oh, cool!’ … You kind of get this surge through your body of pure joy, and it’s one of the best feelings ever.”
“(Winston) has good power,” said Snohomish coach Lou Kennedy. “And it’s typically a line-drive shot. She just tries to hit the middle of the ball and drive it, and sometimes it just buzzes out there and hits the fence because it doesn’t get up (very high). But if you keep hitting the ball like that, good things will happen.
“I couldn’t be prouder of how much (the Panthers) kept fighting,” he added. “We just needed one hit and, boy, was that hit a monster.”
The home run made a winner out of Snohomish starting pitcher Alyssa Simons, who checked Monroe on just three hits while walking one and striking out eight. She retired the Bearcats in order in four of her seven innings.
“I felt pretty good today,” said Simons, a senior who will play next season for the University of Washington softball team. “I felt like our defense was doing really well, so that kind of gave me confidence. I was able to pitch without worrying about things, and I think that helped a lot.”
Still, the Bearcats did not go quietly. In the seventh, they got a leadoff double from Taylor Durant and Camille Chism followed with a walk. A sacrifice bunt then moved the tying runs to third and second with one out.
But with the game and the season on the line for both teams, Simons retired the final two batters on a strikeout and an infield grounder.
“It was an amazingly well-pitched game on both sides,” Kennedy said. “And both teams battled hard. … It came down to one batter taking (the challenge) on and driving the ball.”
Simons, one of just two seniors on the Snohomish roster, will close her high school career with a third consecutive state tournament appearance. The Panthers finished seventh in 2014 and fifth a year ago.
“It’s such an exciting feeling, being able to continue your season,” Simons said. “State is such a fun time. It’s just the funnest thing ever.”
For Monroe, the heartbreaking defeat ended the season for what is “probably one of the better teams we’ve had in the last six years,” coach Mike Birch said. And on Saturday, he added, “that was probably the best game we played all season. Not necessarily getting hits or doubles, triples and home runs, but just the way they came together as a team and battled.
“They could’ve laid down and died after that home run, but they didn’t and they haven’t all season. (They competed) right to the end.”
Over the last few years, the Bearcats “have just kept getting better and better,” Birch added. The team has several returning players, and by next season “they’ll have another year under their belts. So I just think there’ll be a lot to look forward to.”
At Monroe H.S.
WP: Alyssa Simons. LP: McKenzie Schulz. Individual highlights: Snohomish—Bailey Greenlee (3B), Natalie Campbell (2-3), Joy Winston (2-3, HR, 2 RBI). Monroe—Taylor Durant (2B). Records. Records—Snohomish 19-3 overall. Monroe 20-6.
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