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.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Kentwood delivered one of its finest offensive performances of the year, banging out 14 hits in beating Kentridge, 9-5.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally,\u201d Shreve exulted after the win. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m on top of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Shreve, all of the Conquerors seemed to be on top of the world Tuesday afternoon. Shelby Mastroianni and Makenna Martin \u2014 the team\u2019s No. 7 and No. 8 hitters \u2014 each collected three hits and scored three runs.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating for everyone in the lineup,\u201d Kentwood coach Jason Wisor said. \u201cYou put everything in play one day, and the next day, you\u2019re getting nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kentridge pitcher Savannah Bommarito, who struggled against the Conquerors on Tuesday, came through on Wednesday, going the distance and striking out five.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d first-year Kentridge coach Julie Taylor said.<\/p>\n
And the Chargers supplied exactly that on Wednesday as Jayleen Bowman\u2019s RBI single in the fourth inning was all Bommarito needed.<\/p>\n
But the battle of split personalities wasn\u2019t limited to just Kentridge and Kentwood. Kentlake joined the fray Wednesday, falling to Jefferson 3-0.<\/p>\n
That ended Kentlake\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Jefferson) just made the plays when they had to,\u201d Kentlake coach Greg Kaas said. \u201cFor a lot of years, we\u2019ve been able to muster through in those situations. We just weren\u2019t able to tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The two-game split between Kentwood (9-4, 11-5) and Kentridge (9-4, 10-5) created a two-way tie for the North\u2019s No. 3 seed to the playoffs. Jefferson (10-3, 11-5), meanwhile, remained in the driver\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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