Edmonds Community College’s softball team isn’t content just to make the playoffs.
With Tuesday’s victory 8-3 victory over Bellevue, the Tritons clinched a berth to the NWAACC tournament. But with a handful of regular season games to go, Edmonds is in a tight battle with Shoreline and Everett for first place in the North Division.
“The girls are pretty geared up,” said Triton coach Janessa Karstens. “They don’t want to just qualify for the tournament. They want to go with the first place North Division’s seed.”
After a rocky start to the regular season, Edmonds (21-7) put together a 14-game winning streak that lifted the team to the top of the division.
Freshman Therese Mickelson (Mariner) is the team’s only pitcher and has been instrumental to the Tritons’ success.
“She gets out of jams really well,” Karstens said. “Her riseball has been her big pitch.”
During the second half of the season, Mickelson also has used the dropball.
“There are a lot more ground ball outs,” Karstens said. “She’s just pitching through tough situations.”
At the start of the season, Edmonds struggled offensively but it didn’t take long for the Tritons to find their groove.
“They didn’t panic. They started to get our hitting together,” Karstens said. “That was huge for us.”
Edmonds is hitting .303 and has two players hitting above .400 — Jenn Brown (.423) and Cathy Mangano (.413).
But if opponents are only focused on Brown and Mangano they will be in for a rude awakening.
The Tritons are second in the league in home runs (24). Seven of the nine starters have multiple home runs.
“People let up on the six, seven part of the lineup,” Karstens said. “That’s proving to surprise some teams.”
Edmonds’ defense has been in flux with Karstens swapping players in different positions.
“We haven’t stuck with the same defense from the beginning to this point,” Karstens said. “We have six or seven true first baseman that are converted to different positions. Everybody is rolling with it. So far it’s working out pretty well. They’re very interchangeable … the defense has quite a few different looks.”
Team chemistry is a major asset and the team appears to be peaking at the right time.
“The mix of the team is the best it’s been,” Karstens said. “That’s making them play the best.”
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