The race for the South Puget Sound League North Division fastpitch playoffs turned into a battle of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for Kentlake, Kentwood and Kentridge on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.
On Tuesday, Kentwood delivered one of its finest offensive performances of the year, banging out 14 hits in beating Kentridge, 9-5.
Kentwood ace Kirsten Shreve struggled with her command all afternoon, walking three and running up several high pitch counts, but came through at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a double and five RBIs.
“Finally,” Shreve exulted after the win. “I feel like I’m on top of the world.”
Along with Shreve, all of the Conquerors seemed to be on top of the world Tuesday afternoon. Shelby Mastroianni and Makenna Martin — the team’s No. 7 and No. 8 hitters — each collected three hits and scored three runs.
But as good as the offense was for the Conquerors on Tuesday, things quickly fell to earth on Wednesday. Kentwood mustered just four hits in a 1-0 loss to that same Kentridge team.
“It’s frustrating for everyone in the lineup,” Kentwood coach Jason Wisor said. “You put everything in play one day, and the next day, you’re getting nothing.”
Kentridge pitcher Savannah Bommarito, who struggled against the Conquerors on Tuesday, came through on Wednesday, going the distance and striking out five.
“I think if they come out and play great defense and our pitchers do the job and our hitters do what they can do, I think state is definitely a possibility for us,” first-year Kentridge coach Julie Taylor said.
And the Chargers supplied exactly that on Wednesday as Jayleen Bowman’s RBI single in the fourth inning was all Bommarito needed.
But the battle of split personalities wasn’t limited to just Kentridge and Kentwood. Kentlake joined the fray Wednesday, falling to Jefferson 3-0.
That ended Kentlake’s streak of 27 straight SPSL North wins. The last league loss for the Falcons (12-1 in league, 16-1 overall) came April 4, 2006 against Kentwood, 8-3.
“(Jefferson) just made the plays when they had to,” Kentlake coach Greg Kaas said. “For a lot of years, we’ve been able to muster through in those situations. We just weren’t able to tonight.”
As of Thursday afternoon, with one round of regular-season games remaining on the schedule and the SPSL playoffs a week away, the only two certainties were that Kentlake had wrapped up the North Division title, its third straight, and Tahoma (6-7, 9-10) had sealed the No. 5 seed. The top five teams from the North advance to the league playoffs, which begin next Friday at Service Park Ball Fields in Kent.
The two-game split between Kentwood (9-4, 11-5) and Kentridge (9-4, 10-5) created a two-way tie for the North’s No. 3 seed to the playoffs. Jefferson (10-3, 11-5), meanwhile, remained in the driver’s seat for the No. 2 seed. Jefferson had a chance to wrap up that second seed on Thursday against 0-12 Federal Way (results unavailable). Kentridge still had a game against Kentlake on its schedule Thursday (results unavailable), and Kentwood was home against Kent-Meridian.
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