SHORELINE — When Shorewood junior Maddie Schilperoort led off the top of the first inning against Shorecrest by reaching third base on a dropped fly ball in center field, it more or less set the tone for the rest of the afternoon on Monday at Shorecrest High School.
In the next at-bat, junior Grace McLaughlin hit a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 1-0, and the Stormrays (10-6 overall, 5-3 league) never looked back from there, running away with a 12-0 victory in five innings against the Scots (4-10, 1-8).
After defeating Shorecrest 10-5 at home on April 9, Shorewood won much more decisively on Monday to sweep the season series against its crosstown rival. In the eyes of Shorewood coach Paul Jensen, the Stormrays have grown tremendously in just a few weeks, in large part due to solidifying the defense by spreading experience between the infield and outfield.
In its first game in 10 days after returning from spring break, Shorewood got back on the right foot. The Stormrays generated eight hits and eight walks, and only two batters struck out.
“We were smartly aggressive,” Jensen said. “When the pitch was there to hit, we were going after it. We didn’t watch too many good pitches go by, and we were pretty disciplined when the (Shorecrest) pitcher was having a little trouble at times. We also executed some plays at different times — that’s another thing we’ve been working on offensively — just executing in order to manufacture some runs.”
McLaughlin (1-for-3, 3 RBI, R) and junior Emma Kellum (2-for-4, RBI) led Shorewood in RBI and hits, respectively, while junior pitcher Ellie Van Horn allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out nine across five shutout innings. Shorecrest freshman Riu Hanrahan (2-for-3) had the only two hits for the Scots.
Van Horn shook off some early struggles, which included getting a few calls for illegal pitches, and stranded two runners in the bottom of the first inning with the Stormrays up 2-0.
Shorewood padded the lead with a 2-RBI double from McLaughlin and RBI hits from junior Rose Gallagher (1-for-2, RBI, R) and Kellum to make it 6-0 in the second. After allowing a leadoff walk in the bottom of the frame, Van Horn struck out three in a row.
“I think it was important to shake off the plays that didn’t go our way, and look for the next one,” Van Horn said. “I think that’s how we shut it down.”
A McLaughlin groundout in the third inning allowed Alyssa Carver (0-for-2, R) to score from third and extend it to 7-0, and Van Horn settled in with a 1-2-3 inning to send it to the fourth.
Cameryn Hubbard (1-for-2, 2 RBI, R), Schilperoort (1-for-4, 2RBI, R) and pinch-hitter Cailin O’Leary (1-for-1, RBI) each drove in runs to balloon the lead to 12-0. The Stormrays defense picked things up later in the game, successfully picking off Shorecrest junior La Titiali’i-McKinnon (0-for-2) in the fourth inning and tagging Hanrahan at third base to end the game in the fifth.
While the win served importance for bragging rights over their friends on Shorecrest’s team, it was even bigger for Shorewood’s standing in Wesco South 3A/2A. With four games left in the regular season, the Stormrays sit neck-and-neck with Meadowdale (6-9, 5-3) and Mountlake Terrace (7-8, 5-4) in third place behind Edmonds-Woodway (11-5, 7-1) and Archbishop Murphy (10-5, 7-2).
The Stormrays are slated to face each of those teams except Archbishop Murphy one more time this season, with each one holding greater stakes as the district tournament draws closer.
“I told the girls, every game is the most important game at this point,” Jensen said. “(With Mountlake Terrace and Meadowdale), we’ve kind of been beating up on each other, and so that would give us an opportunity to maybe separate ourselves.”
Shorewood beat Meadowdale 8-3 on April 16, then lost to Mountlake Terrace 9-2 two days later, but after the improvement the Stormrays displayed between their two matchups against Shorecrest, the team is confident in their ability to play their best ball going into the postseason.
“We’ve shown that we can beat the teams that we need to beat,” McLaughlin said. “We just got to, like, keep that confidence going, keep the momentum. Especially (because) our spring break just ended, and so starting off with a win going into the road to districts was really helpful, and I think will continue to motivate us to play even better.”
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