Mount Si’s softball team had a lot of breaks in their favor during the course of this season. Unfortunately, one went against them last Monday at Issaquah and they suffered a tough loss to the Eagles.

The Wildcats opened the game well, with a run in the first inning scored by Lacey Blais. But, Issaquah scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and took the game, 2-1.

At home last Tuesday and coming off the Monday loss, Mount Si needed a good game to forget the previous loss and that’s exactly what happened.

In a steady rain, pitcher Kandis Clesson gave up four hits and struck out six as the Wildcats shut out the Newport Knights 2-0. Defense was key, said the Idaho State University bound senior. At least one sophomore was given credit.

“I think it was a good team effort. I had great defense behind me. Kyleen [Sweepe] played amazing at second,” said Clesson.

Fellow sophomores Katie Brett and Tracey Barclay also did well defensively in the infield. These three, along with their classmate Danae Englund, are poised to replicate the strong infield “D” that Amy Trenkamp, Kayla Jayne and Ashley Svarthumle brought to the table in 2004 and 2005. Senior Katie Morgan is the bridge between these two strong defensive groups; she was part of the previous group the last two years and is the experienced first base anchor this year for this new class.

It helps when the offense is clicking.

“It was a good game and Newport’s been playing well and anytime we can get a couple of clutch hits, we’re going to be pretty successful,” said Mount Si coach Larry White.

The Wildcats started it off in the second inning. Against Knights starter Stacey Hagensen, Brett hit a double and then scored on a pair of Newport errors. Clesson went to work with her bat in the fourth by hitting a single. She then scored on a two-out single by catcher Katie Shaw. Brett went two for three in the contest and said it was familiarity with Hagensen which did the trick.

“Well, we have a long background from Little League and from last year,”said Brett.

The Wildcats played Mercer Island Monday and returned Wednesday to open the second half of the schedule against Bellevue. If Mount Si can keep up their strong pace from the first half (they were 4-2 coming into this week) going forward, this team could make an appearance at the Seeking District Tournament for the fourth straight year.