Edmonds-Woodway battles to the end

  • David Pan<br>Enterprise sports editor
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:32am

The Edmonds-Woodway softball team came up a game short of advancing to the state tournament.

Monroe ended the Warriors’ postseason run with a 7-0 victory in a winner-to-state/loser-out 4A Northwest District tournament game May 20 at Sky River Park in Monroe.

The Warriors, the No. 4 seed from the Western Conference South Division, opened the tournament with a loss to the No. 1 North seed Bearcats but then rallied for back-to-back wins over Marysville-Pilchuck and Mount Vernon.

Monroe pitcher Jordan Birch shut down the Warriors, allowing only one hit in a complete-game performance.

“They have an awesome team,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Chris Paulson said of the Bearcats. “It was really tough to get any hits off their pitcher. Our kids basically ran out of gas. They put forth their best effort.”

The Warriors (14-10) started the day with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Mount Vernon. Edmonds-Woodway’s Emily Dean allowed only two hits and struck out seven. Senior third baseman Annika Lindberg was 2-for-3 with a double.

Mount Vernon pitcher Jackie Richter didn’t have a lot of movement on her ball but was effective with a change-up.

“Our kids really have to be patient and had to adjust to her,” Paulson said.

The Warriors took advantage of five Bulldog errors and also had some timely hitting.

“The girls did the best that they could,” Paulson said. “I was very pleased with the effort the girls put in.”

Edmonds-Woodway graduates four keys seniors, including co-captains Dean and Lindberg. Dean is headed to Western Arizona on a softball scholarship, while Lindberg has yet to settle on a school, Paulson said.

“(Dean) did an outstanding job this year,” Paulson said. “She definitely was our MVP. She was the one who got us into the playoffs and kept us in the ball games. She pitched well enough to get us there.

“She’s a very quiet leader for us this year and she’s very encouraging to everybody. She’s a wonderful young lady.”

Lindberg was a four-year varsity player and provided strong leadership throughout the season.

“The kids respected her tremendously,” Paulson said. “It’s a big loss.”

Also graduating are catcher Meggan Dugger, whose sense of humor kept the team loose, and second baseman Kellie Hansen, another four-year varsity player.

Paulson was looking to the seniors to lead the team and they did the job.

“The leadership was the big issue this year,” Paulson said. “It worked out beautifully.”

Edmonds-Woodway rebounds against Marysville-Pilchuck

The Warriors strung together the hits when they needed them to defeat the Tomahawks in a loser-out game May 18 at Sky River Park.

Seniors Kelli Hansen and Annika Lindberg each drove in a run, while senior Emily Dean allowed only two hits to lead Edmonds-Woodway to a 3-0 victory.

Dean struck out eight in what was her second complete-game performance of the afternoon. Monroe edged Edmonds-Woodway 2-0 in a first-round contest.

“I was running low in the last game,” Dean said. “Pitching the full first game and going into the second game with a 10-minute break in this heat is difficult. It’s a relief to get into Saturday’s games.”

The Warriors were confident as they headed into the loser-out contest after a solid effort against North Division champion Monroe.

“We knew that they were a very strong team and we felt that we didn’t play our best against them,” Lindberg said. “We played well our first game and we knew going into the second game if we just strung some hits together, we’d be able to pull it off.”

Edmonds-Woodway had runners on against the Bearcats but was unable to move them along.

“It’s the story of our season,” Warriors coach Chris Paulson said of his team’s struggles at the plate. “We just haven’t been making the hits to bring the runs in to score first so that we can establish that momentum.”

The Warriors were able to strike first against the Tomahawks, scoring one run in the first and two more in the third. Edmonds-Woodway was better able to time Marysville-Pilchuck pitcher Jessie Herzer.

“She was pretty fast,” Dean said. “We got her timing down and got a lot of hits. That made a difference.”

Paulson hoped Edmonds-Woodway would be able to carry over some of the momentum to the second day of the tournament.

“It’s nice that we came together as a team in this game and strung some hits together and brought home some runners,” he said. “That’s something we need to do if we want to be successful.”

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