Shout for Shadle

TACOMA – Two-thirds was good enough to get Shadle Park to Saturday when 100 percent got the Highlanders the state softball title they’ve long coveted.

An offense that was missing during Friday’s tournament play teamed with continued strong pitching and defense for two more shutout triumphs and Shadle’s first State 4A softball championship at SERA Fields.

The Highlanders beat Woodinville 8-0 in the morning semifinals and surprise finalist Mountain View 2-0 in the afternoon.

The Highlanders join University’s 2003 champion as the Greater Spokane League softball title winners and became the first GSL school to reach the finals twice.

It was last year’s second-place finish that provided this year’s incentive during a 28-1 season.

“It just seems like a long time ago it all started and it’s been one heck of a ride this year,” said coach George Lynn. “I didn’t know how to motivate a team when you lose in 10 innings and something that’s yours slips away. But we went big. From day one our goal was to win state. To see it happen – words can’t describe it.”

The only hiccup all season was the 1-0 loss in the district championship to U-Hi. Shadle did not allow another run the remainder of the season, winning three regional and four state games.

If the offense took a back seat to pitching and defense in Friday’s wins, it came to the forefront in a big way Saturday.

Sophomore Danielle Lynn, the coach’s youngest daughter, drove in four runs in her first two at-bats to put Woodinville on its heels early in the semifinal. In the title game she led off the fourth inning with a triple and scored the first of two runs in the inning.

“I think after yesterday when (she was) the only kid in the order (who) didn’t have a hit, I just told her, ‘I hope you’re saving your hits for today,’ ” George Lynn said. “She really stepped up.”

It made things relatively easy for star Sam Skillingstad, a junior who is becoming more pitcher than thrower as she matures in her role.

Skillingstad gave up four hits to Woodinville but faced only one threat while striking out 15. Against Mountain View in the title game, she finished with eight strikeouts but allowed only one base runner.

“It’s repetitive to say that’s she’s a stud, but not only a stud but so tuned into the mental part of the game,” George Lynn said. “I don’t know of another athlete as strong mentally. That’s her strongest asset.”

Shadle taught an early lesson to those opponents daring to play their outfielders shallow.

Against Woodinville, China Frost sent a burner through the legs of starter Tobey Varney that quickly got past the fielders for a double. Lynn followed with an airborne line drive to the same part of the park for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Jesica Berlinger, the Highlanders’ No. 9 hitter, led off the inning with a single. Frost got the second of her three hits in the game and Allie Burger bunted safely.

Lynn sliced a long ball to the opposite field beyond the outfielders, clearing the bases.

Shadle tacked on three more runs, two on Krista Zappone’s bases-loaded base hit.

“That was a big deal,” Zappone said after the title win. “It was the first time I hit with the bases loaded since ninth grade.”

That set up the title showdown with a Mountain View team that had eight losses and had finished fourth in the Greater St. Helen’s League.

They battled through three scoreless innings before Lynn led off the fourth with a screaming shot up the middle. Thunder center fielder Melissa Feeney raced in, tried to stop and slipped. The ball went past her to the fence as she fell.

Tressa Predisik, Shadle’s fourth left-handed batter, slashed a ball the opposite way that landed fair and ricocheted wickedly to the left and out of play for a double that put the Highlanders ahead.

Courtesy runner Katelyn Harvey reached third on a groundout and Skillingstad laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt for the insurance run. She took it from there, mixing pitches and keeping hitters off balance.

“I try to be more educated as a pitcher – try to be (smarter),” she said.

She induced seven flyouts and six groundouts. Five of the fly balls were infield popups, two were caught by center fielder Burger.

Burger made the play of the game on the first at-bat of the title contest. Mountain View leadoff hitter Jessica Guy hit a short fly ball that Burger raced in on and dove for on the infield dirt. Ball and glove met as she hit the ground.

The top three batters in Shadle’s order combined for 11 hits during the day. Zappone and Berlinger combined for four more at the bottom of the order and everyone had at least one.