Led by newly-minted district champion Skyline, brigade of 4A KingCo softball teams headed to Spokane for state championships
EVERETT - Matt Steen knows the days of anonymity for Ryan Grace as a softball pitcher in the state of Washington might have expired Friday.
The state's breakout pitcher headed to Harvard put on a hit-your-spots clinic against 4A KingCo rival Mount Si in the District 1/2 championship game, allowing just two hits and striking out 10 in the Spartans' 7-0 victory at Phil Johnson Ballfields.
Her dominant performance capped a brilliant run for seventh-ranked Skyline, which defeated No. 4 Redmond, No. 1 Jackson and Mount Si - a team that had beaten the Spartans in two of three games this season - for the district crown.
Grace, the 4A KingCo pitcher of the year, improved to 15-4 on the season, and lowered her earned-run average to 1.60. She has struck out 266 batters in 154-plus innings.
Not bad for a pitcher whom Steen described as a "contact pitcher" a year ago as a junior.
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"It's been honestly crazy because before the season, I would not have described myself as a strikeout pitcher," Grace said. "But I've really been working on my (pitch) movement ... and being smart against the batter."
Last week, these two teams met in the final consolation game of the league tournament - and Mount Si won, 21-16.
Grace was unavailable to pitch in that game, however. She was taking an International Baccalaureate curriculum test.
Skyline broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning Friday on Kaelani Randle's run-scoring single, followed by Grace's bloop RBI triple that got past the right fielder, to grab a 2-0 lead.
Redmond's Tia Milloy, the 4A KingCo player of the year, hit a leadoff home run against Inglemoor to get the Mustangs into the state tournament.
Photo by Todd Milles
That was all Grace, a left-hander, needed, who mixed in a rise ball that sits in the high-50s with a screwball and wicked change-up.
"She is a pitcher," Breen said. "She is not going to gas it by you. She is going to move it, spin it - and it is fun to watch."
Mount Si's only real threat came in the third inning. Its two hits came in back-to-back at-bats by Makayla Malan and Isabella Buchan, putting runners at second and third with one out.
But Grace induced an infield pop-up for the second out, and got out of the jam with an inning-ending strikeout.
Macen Staley put it out of reach with her three-run home run off Mount Si starting pitcher Kate Gotts to straightaway center in the seventh inning. She had a game-high three hits.
With wins over Lake Stevens (8-1) and Redmond (7-4), two-time defending 4A champion Jackson took the No. 3 as the lone 4A Wesco representative to the state tournament.
Tia Milloy, the 4A KingCo player of the year, hit a leadoff home run for Redmond in its 15-0 win over Inglemoor to earn a state berth - the No. 4 seed.
And in a winner-to-state, loser-out game for the final seed, Inglemoor's Shannon Tierney blasted the game-winning three-run home run in the sixth inning - and the Vikings held on in dramatic fashion when the potential game-tying Lake Stevens baserunner was called out going to third base in violation of the "circle rule" to end the game.
