Coach could make history on way to imminent postseason A return to glory for Wildcat softball

The Mount Si High School girls softball team is on the verge of making postseason, and also making a little history for their coach.

The Wildcats opened last week with a loss to league-leading Issaquah. The Eagles scored early, then used the arm of junior pitcher Brianna Bray to shut down the Mount Si bats in a 5-0 Issaquah victory.

Wildcat coach Larry White praised Issaquah.

“Issaquah, in my opinion, is the top dog right now,” he said. “Hopefully, we can just keep getting better, and maybe we’ll get a shot at them down the road.”

Despite the score and the offense only recording two hits off of Bray and a reliever, Wildcat shortstop Traci Barclay said the final figure didn’t reflect how the team played.

“We really put up a real good fight today,” she said.

Evidence of that was arguably the defensive play of the year for Mount Si, a snare of a line drive by freshman second baseman Megan Stone in the fourth inning off the bat of Issaquah’s Kenna Olsen.

Mount Si’s two hits were courtesy of the two Danielles, Covello and Massengill, who both singled off of Bray.

The Wildcats traveled to Newport Wednesday, April 23, and played on the brand new field at the Bellevue school. The reward for their first taste of the new field: Knights ace Stacey Hagensen, and the senior pitcher, proved to be a tough customer, as she held the Wildcat offense to just two hits herself in a 4-1 Newport win.

“I saw a lot of fight in our girls,” White told the Valley Record by e-mail. “I think [it] was a turnaround moment, even though we didn’t win. We had several chances with runners in scoring position; we just couldn’t get it done.”

Mount Si traveled to Mercer Island Thursday, April 24, and finally made up the game from March that was a casualty of the early-season transportation issues that affected all Mount Si teams. The Wildcats won, and with class. The final score was 10-0 in five innings against the last-place team in the league.

That win moved White to within two wins of his 100th career win as Mount Si coach, a mark which is expected to be set this week as Mount Si plays Bellevue, Interlake and Sammamish, all teams below them in the standings. If the Wildcats win all of those games as expected, that would set up a showdown for the number three spot to the Kingco Tournament Friday at home against Skyline.

A number three spot to the league tournament would mean a likely trip to districts for Mount Si, since it is expected that either Interlake or Sammamish would be the Wildcats’ first-round opponent in that tournament. With Mount Si having beat those opponents already this year once each, plus Interlake in a ten-run rule blowout, scarlet and gray should be able to get it done and make it to districts.

First pitch is 4:30 p.m. at Mount Si.

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