SNOHOMISH — The Snohomish High School softball team remained undefeated in league play after a series of momentum shifts in a key matchup against visiting Cascade on Friday.
In what was a battle between the top-two teams in the Wesco 3A/2A standings entering the day, the Panthers edged the Bruins 3-2 in the final innings.
Snohomish senior Skyla Bristol fanned 11 batters with no walks, ringing up 68 strikes over 86 pitches in the circle and delivered a game-tying RBI single at the plate in the sixth inning.
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Cascade senior Abby Surowiec also turned in an impressive game on both sides for the Bruins (12-6, 10-3 Wesco 3A/2A), tossing out 105 pitches with nine strikeouts while coming up with a run in the third, which put Cascade ahead.
The two squads traded runs early on, with the Panthers capitalizing off a double in the first from junior Camryn Sage (2-for-2), who ended up scoring the game’s first run. Cascade senior Alexa Hamshaw retaliated with a solo homer in the second, tying the game 1-1.
After Bristol retired two batters in the third, Surowiec stepped up and connected on a double. On the next at-bat, she stole third, and after an error at home plate, she dived home for the run that gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
“I’ve got nine seniors this year, and this is a mature team,” Snohomish coach Patti Lande said. “This isn’t their first rodeo and they know the game is seven innings long. They’ve got strong mental toughness and they stayed strong, we were gonna figure it out one way or another.”
Surowiec helped Cascade blank Snohomish from the second-through-fifth innings. However, a sixth-inning recovery from the Panthers (14-3, 12-0) was just enough to finish the day with a victory.
Camryn Sage delivered a line drive to left field in the sixth with no outs, and an error at first base allowed her to get to second. She advanced to third off an error at home on the following at-bat.
After a walk, Bristol stepped to the plate and broke through for her RBI single, scoring Camryn Sage.
The Panthers game-sealing run came from junior Kendel Sage as she hit a sacrifice grounder which scored Emma Hansen, lifting Snohomish ahead 3-2 as they entered the seventh.
“Honestly, I think once we started making contact with the ball and keeping it in play, we really started having more faith in our bats,” Bristol said.
“Kinda like the error (in the third), that brought us down, but we never gave up, just kept fighting. I had to work through my mental game,” Bristol added. “Making sure my teammates had my back, and they truly did. We never gave up once.”
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