MARYSVILLE — The Meadowdale and Marysville Pilchuck softball teams, which both have high hopes in next week’s 3A district tournament, got a little preview of how tough the postseason bracket might be in their regular-season finale.
In a back-and-forth contest that needed extra innings to crown a winner, Marysville Pilchuck got an RBI single by Hannah Larson in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Meadowdale 7-6 Tuesday at Marysville Pilchuck High School.
The Tomahawks’ victory clinched a share of the Wesco 3A North title with Everett, which watched Tuesday’s game from left-center field.
“It was a good game. The girls showed some resilience,” Marysville Pilchuck head coach Aaron Zachry said. “They could have rolled over. When they were up three going into the seventh and we gave them those runs back there’s some other teams that could have easily just quit. You have a game in your hands against a really, really good team — the leader in the South — and they get back in the game. … We could have very easily hung our shoulders and said, ‘Oh, it’s Meadowdale.’ But they kept digging and digging and digging.
“That’s a good ending to the 20-game regular season. They’ve come a long way.”
After Meadowdale twice came back to tie Marysville Pilchuck early in the game, a pair of Maverick errors helped contribute to a four-run fifth inning for the Tomahawks, who took a 6-3 lead heading to the seventh.
But the Mavericks battled back, getting four walks in the inning and scoring on a pair of wild pitches to tie the game at six and force extras.
“It’s back-and-forth,” Zachry said. “Both of us had an inning where we made some mistakes. … We both definitely had our fair share of breaks in the game.”
Katie Barrett led off the bottom of the ninth with a single for Marysville Pilchuck and Kylie Lopez and Lilianne Fischer also singled to load the bases. With one out, Larson came to the plate and hit an RBI single to center field to score Barrett and the celebration was on.
“Hannah handled herself like a senior,” Zachry said. “She was a co-captain this year. She’s come up with quite a few big hits for us this year. I told her when I went up there, ‘You’ve done this. You’ve been doing this for four years. This is what you play for, right? You’re a senior. Time to do your job.’
“And she did.”
Like Zachry, Meadowdale head coach Dennis Hopkins was pleased with his squad’s determination to get back in the game — including the late rally to tie the score in the Mavericks’ last chance in the seventh.
“These kids never give up, no matter what the score is,” Hopkins said. “They’ve been down before and came back and, once again, they proved they could do it. Just couldn’t get over that extra little hump.
“These are the games you love to play. This is what it’s all about,” Hopkins continued. “We just couldn’t string hits together when we needed to. They’re an awesome team — they’re well-coached — they’re a great competitor. We just couldn’t get our bats when we needed them.”
Larson finished 3-for-5 for Marysville Pilchuck (14-3 league, 16-4 overall) with three RBI and a double. Sydney Zachry (2-for-4) scored three runs and Fischer, who came on in relief in the eighth inning to earn the win in the circle, was 2-for-3 with a run scored for the co-Wesco 3A North champion Tomahawks.
“That was our first goal. We just checked it off,” Zachry said. “That was our goal, to win the North. We’d have like to have done it outright, but Everett’s a really good team. We split with them. They’re pretty excited. It’s a pretty big deal.”
For Meadowdale (15-3, 17-3), the Wesco 3A South champion, Samantha Gregoryk led the way batting 2-for-4 with a triple and three runs scored. Lauren Wallace also drove in two runs and scored two runs herself.
The Mavericks will be the No. 1 seed in the 3A District 1 tournament, which begins at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Phil Johnson Fields, and will face either Stanwood or Oak Harbor in their opener. Marysville Pilchuck, which is the No. 4 seed with Everett drawing a higher seed for postseason play, faces Mountlake Terrace.
If both Meadowdale and the Tomahawks win their openers, the two teams would square off in a district semifinal, winner-to-state game later Tuesday night.
“There’s some real parity this year in softball,” Zachry said. “The South top four, the North top four — they all can play softball. You’ve got to come to play.”
At Marysville Pilchuck H.S.
WP: Lilianne Fischer. LP: Lauren Dent. Individual highlights: Meadowdale—Lauren Wallace (2 RBI, 2 R); Samantha Gregoryk (2-4, 2 R, 3B); Marysville Pilchuck—Hannah Larson (3-5, 3 RBI, 2B, G-W hit in ninth); Sydney Zachry (2-4, 3 R); Fischer (2-3, R). Records—Meadowdale 15-3 league, 17-3 overall. Marysville Pilchuck 14-3, 16-4.
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