MONROE — If any doubt remained which high school softball team was the best in the Wesco 3A/2A league this year, Snohomish emphatically erased it with a 9-3 victory over Monroe on a misty Monday evening at Monroe High School.
The Panthers finished the regular season 16-5 overall with a perfect 15-0 league record. They’ll carry an 11-game winning streak, a No. 1 seed and a first-round bye into the Class 3A District 1 tournament, which begins Friday for the 5-12 seeds.
Snohomish pitcher Abby Edwards struck out 14 Bearcats, and every batter in the Panthers order reached base at least once.
Patti Lande, the sixth-year Snohomish coach, indicated that contributions from everyone on the team led to a special regular season.
“Different people come through at different times for us,” said Lande, whose team will play its first postseason game at 4 p.m. next Tuesday at Phil Johnson Fields in Everett against the winner of 8-9 seed game. “It’s pretty awesome.”
Snohomish’s Avery Clark hit a 2-run double off the center field wall as part of a 3-for-5 evening. Edwards, Alexandra Flohr and Zoey Lynch each contributed a pair of hits to the Panthers 12-hit attack.
“We’ve won Wesco two years in a row now, so it’s nice to keep the momentum going into the postseason,” said Clark, a senior center fielder. “We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Monroe’s Vivian Knuckey hit a towering, 3-run home run over the high outfield wall in the sixth inning to lead the Bearcats (13-7, 11-4). As of Tuesday, Monroe was in position to receive one of the first-round byes as the fourth seed in the tournament based on the rating percentage index (RPI) used to calculate district standings. Stanwood (13-1 league) earned the No. 2 seed. Everett (11-3) was in the third position heading into Tuesday’s regular season finale against 4-10 Edmonds-Woodway.
Edwards began the contest doing what she’s been doing all season.
The sophomore pitcher struck out eight batters in three perfect innings before finding her only trouble in the fourth. With Snohomish leading 4-0, Hadley Oyler and Scarlett Nagy each walked before Knuckey’s blast. It was the only hit allowed by Edwards. After the third out of the inning, the Panthers walked off the turf unfazed.
Snohomish quickly rebounded in the top of the fifth with RBI hits from Flohr and Lynch, and Edwards resumed her dominance in the bottom of the inning.
“We just have so much companionship with each other,” Edwards said. “There’s such good energy all the time. We just have fun together.”
That Panthers were without leadoff hitter and shortstop Camryn Sage, who was home with the stomach flu. As has been the case all season, someone else was ready to get the job done.
“Our senior captain is at home… and a freshman (Madalynn Larsen) steps up and ends up getting two RBIs and the out that came to her,” Lande said. “It’s been great.”
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