Wildcat softball opens Kingco schedule on high note

Published 11:01 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE – The Mount Si Wildcats softball team is off to a good start. The Wildcats waxed Bellevue to open the league schedule last Monday at Centennial Fields, 8-1. Kandis Clesson pitched another solid game but it was the hitting of Katie Shaw and the defense of Katie Morgan that stole the show.

The win came despite some low expectations. In its Kingco 3A softball preview, the King County Journal newspaper listed the Wildcats as only a contender for the Kingco3A crown, despite Mount Si’s state runner-up finish in 2004, while naming Issaquah and Liberty as league favorites.

“I was really proud of the girls. When the papers write things that fire them up, boy, they came ready to play, and I don’t think Bellevue was quite ready for what we gave them today,” said Mount Si coach Larry White.

The Wildcats offense didn’t waste any time walloping Bellevue pitcher Allison Stanford. With one out, Morgan singled, Kayla Jayne walked and Clesson reached safely on a fielder’s choice that went awry for the Wolverines. After Ashley Svarthumle singled to score a run, Katie Brett grounded out to drive in another run for the second out. Katie Shaw then drove in two runs with a single of her own.

“I’m just trying to be more calm now because earlier this year I was really tense. I’m trying to think about what I can do and not what I can’t so I just try to stay focused,” said Shaw.

Mount Si scored three more times in the third and then iced it in the sixth with another run. Clesson, Morgan and Shaw all had two hits apiece to lead the Wildcats’ charge.

Morgan’s defense was stellar and focus was key.

“I was a little bit more focused and I was ready to play this game cause I really wanted to beat Bellevue,” Morgan said.

Bellevue’s only run scored on a Mount Si error in the seventh.

‘Cats best Totems

The Wildcats traveled to Sammamish on Wednesday and it was the Kayla Jayne/Amy Trenkamp show. Jayne went 3-4, with 2 RBIs; both runs were scored by Trenkamp, and Mount Si nipped the Totems 2-0.

Clesson again was tough on the mound, pitching a complete two-hitter game, walking one and striking out seven Sammamish hitters. Svarthumle added a double to the cause.

The scheduled game against Liberty on Thursday at Centennial Fields was rained out and there was no official word as of late Friday as to when the game would be rescheduled.

The Wildcats take most of this week off before leaving Friday for Yakima and a Saturday twin bill with two of Eastern Washington’s top high-school softball powers, Hanford and West Valley-Yakima of the 3A Mid-Valley League. The games against these two teams will likely say a lot about how well prepared Mount Si is to make another run at state in 2005.

The Wildcats will resume league play next week with contests on the road next Wednesday at Interlake and then a huge showdown with Issaquah next Friday at Centennial Fields. The battle on the mound between two of the Kingco 3A’s top pitchers, with Mount Si’s Clesson and Issaquah’s Brenda Bray, has been excellent the last two seasons, and this first meeting of the two in 2005 looks to be no different. Game time for both league contests is 4 p.m.