Shadle sails into 4A semis

TACOMA – Like clockwork, a rain shower began falling at 9 a.m. as teams opened the State 4A softball tournament. But if Kentlake followers took it as a good omen when Shadle Park pitcher Sam Skillingstad stopped and asked for a dry ball in the first inning and was rebuffed, they would soon be disappointed.

The Highlanders this year have been there, done that.

“We’re used to playing in the rain,” said Highlanders third baseman China Frost.

The end result in Friday’s first two games were victories, 5-1 over Kentlake and 7-1 over Monroe, sending the Highlanders back to the tournament semifinals for a third straight year.

Today at 9 a.m., Shadle (27-0) plays Redmond (19-7) in one semifinal while Eastlake (24-4) faces Rogers-Puyallup (24-4) in the other.

Not as fortunate was Central Valley, which went 0-2 in the tournament. The Bears played Stadium to a 1-1 standoff into the fifth inning before losing 5-1 and were eliminated 2-0 by Marysville-Pilchuck in the second game, ending their season with a 20-9 record.

Shadle: The Frost-inspired offense struck while the iron was hot against Kentlake after Skillingstad gutted out the rainy first inning. Shadle scored three times in the bottom of the frame and twice in the second in this game between Pac-10-bound pitchers.

A leadoff walk to Allie Burger and single by Frost set the table for Shadle’s quick strike against Felecia Harris (who has committed to Washington, most likely for her bat as an infielder).

That brought Skillingstad to the plate with one out and she immediately delivered a two-run single to the right of second base. Following a force out, her freshman sister, Megan, doubled in the third run.

Frost singled again, with two outs in the second, scored on Danielle Lynn’s hit down the third-base line, and Lynn ultimately scored on a Kentlake error.

“I saw she was pitching me outside since I’m a slapper,” said Frost, “and I was kind of looking middle outside.”

The runs were plenty for Shadle’s Oregon-bound pitcher who, while struggling a bit with her control, struck out 19 of the 21 outs. For the day, Skillingstad fanned 33 besides her role with the bat.

“It was a good day at work,” she said.

In the game against Monroe, she was locked in a mound showdown with hard-throwing Jordan Birch, who had a 14-strikeout no-hitter in the opener and registered six strikeouts in the first two innings. Then the Highlanders changed plans.

“We went to shorten up our swings and put the ball in play,” said coach George Lynn. “It worked.”

In the third, Skillingstad boomed a high offering over the left-centerfield fence to break a scoreless deadlock. In the fourth, Shadle broke the game open with contact hits and defense-flustering base running.

Haylee Cushner started it with a hit between short and third. Burger bunted and the two wound up at second and third bases. Frost legged out a high-bouncing RBI infield hit and when the smoke had cleared, the Highlanders were ahead 6-0.

“I was pretty happy,” said Lynn, the Highlanders’ coach. “They were extremely aggressive (on the basepaths) and extremely attentive.”

CV: While the Bears went winless in their first state tournament in 12 years, they proved that they can be competitive at this level, said coach Jeff VanHorne.

“In both games a play here or there and there could have led to different results,” he said.

Stadium struck early when pitcher Jordyn Kurtz led off with a triple and scored on a ground out. The Bears got even in the fourth on Becky White’s low liner to left field. Brooke Ford singled her home.

In the fifth, Stadium had back-to-back one-out singles, and with two gone, Rebecca Cable tripled them home. She scored on a double. The Tigers added a run in the sixth.

In the second game against Marysville-Pilchuck, CV had but three base runners. The Bears missed a golden opportunity in the fourth inning when Chrystal Holt and White reached base, but a popped-up sacrifice bunt attempt resulted in a double play.

“We could have done a better job of executing, but they played hard and have nothing to hang their heads about,” VanHorne said.