EVERETT — It appears that Stilly Valley has put together another formidable majors softball team.
Coming off of a first-round bye, the girls topped Sky Valley, their first-round opponent in the district all-star tournament at Garfield Park, by an 8-2 margin.
Although the girls came into the game aware of the talents of the opposing pitcher, their bats were not intimidated.
The Stilly Valley girls got on the board in the second inning of the June 28 game, starting with a walk of leadoff batter Jennaka Larson. Nikkei Molsey and Sam Macintosh each followed with base hits, Larson and Molsey scoring on an overthrown ball to defend third base. Outfielder Madeline MacLean batted in Macintosh and scooted around the bases thanks in part to a single by Allison Rosenbach.
A bunt by Machelle Steele, intended to score MacLean, instead resulted in a double play. But Rosenbach found home before the inning was out.
The lead widened to five runs in the fifth inning as Elysia Whitis was hit by a pitch and scored on a sacrifice play by pitcher Jessica Ludwig.
Sky Valley scored both of their runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Stilly Valley piled onto their lead in the top of the sixth.
Molsey took first base on a fielding error and Macintosh on a hit. MacLean got out on a fielder’s choice at first, but her teammates moved into scoring position on the play.
“Machelle Steele hit of the day,” said manager Traci Kerney.
Steele followed with a triple down the first base line, scoring her teammates and ultimately scoring the eighth run.
“These girls have been solid for us all year long,” said Kerney, who coached about a third of the roster on her tournament of champions team. “We have a very strong defensive team and offensively we’re strong.”
The Stilly Valley girls play an unfamiliar Pacific squad July 1 at 7:30 p.m. The winner goes to the district championship game July 6.
11-year-old softball wins one, loses one
The 11-year-old Stilly Valley all-stars threw three pitchers and everything they had at Lake Stevens, winning their opening-round district game 12-9.
“We came back in the top of the sixth to win that thing,” said manager Butch Diemer, whose team includes several girls from last year’s district champion 9/10 all-star team.
The girls won their first-round game June 27 but fell to Mill Creek 27 hours later, sending the Stilly Valley girls into loser-out play for the rest of the tournament. They faced Snohomish June 30 after the Times went to press, the winner getting a rematch against Mill Creek in the championship game July 2 at Garfield Park in Everett.
If Stilly Valley advances to the championship game, they’ll need to beat Mill Creek twice for the right to represent the first district in the state tournament in Kirkland.
Junior softball advances to district championship
With convincing wins, the Stilly Valley junior softball all-stars advance to the district 1 championship game.
With a number of players from last year’s major all-stars who went to the regionals in Vancouver, Wash., the Stilly Valley juniors defeated Pacific 14-2 in their first-round game June 27. They beat Lake Stevens the next day 11-0.
They played the winner of Marysville-Lake Stevens for the championship June 30 after the Times went to press.
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