If the New York Yankees or the Washington Huskies, or any other group of great champions had been at Monday's Kingco Championship Game, they'd have been on their feet for BOTH teams.

It was a virtually flawlessly played game, zero-zero through 8 innings, until we finally put up 4 runs in the 9th inning international tie-breaker.

Did someone mention that "defense wins championships"?  (Re-read the Juanita game headline below.)  Yes.  On a night where as visitors there simply was no margin for errors, we made none.  Beyond that, we made some stellar plays at critical times:

    Kayla made a solid running catch when Eastlake's slapping lead-off hitter got under one in the bottom of the first;

    After an Eastlake batter got on to begin their third, Cat personally took the inning away, diving to catch an attempted sacrifice bunt for the first out, then snagging a low liner and doubling the runner off first to end the inning;

    Emily made two terrific plays to her left, showing rattle-snake quickness in getting off the throw;

    Maria got her glove on a chopper over her head to deflect it, and Mak adjusted her own charge, picked up the ball and got off her own strong, quick throw to nail the runner;

    Katie nailed an Eastlake baserunner stealing second to shut down another potential threat.

But defense begins in the circle and on this night Maria was at her best, maybe her best ever, giving up only 3 hits and striking out 15 batters (almost half of them in the three extra innings).

Someone once compared an extra inning game to a "knife fight on a tightrope", where any kind of mistake can bring things to an abrupt end.  That's especially true for the vistors when the score is tied. 

And in the bottom of the 7th and 8th innings, with the score zero-zero, where a single Eastlake run was the ballgame and even a baserunner was potential catastrophe, Maria faced six batters total, retired them in order...........and struck five of them out. 

Eastlake's fine pitcher Nicole Guptil spun her own gem through 8 innings, with some help from her own defense.  Two Falcons were thrown out trying to steal, and two others were thrown out at home, once when Kayla singled and their center fielder got Madi with a must-be-perfect (and was) strike.

After 8 scoreless innings, we went to international tie-breaker, where things get even more tense.  In ITB the inning begins with a runner on second base.  "The book" dictates a bunt by the leadoff hitter in ITB, to try to move the runner over, but for the visiting team another school of thought says:  No guts, no glory. 

With speedy Katie on second and the middle of the order coming up, Coach Leander played for the big inning.  It worked.  With one out, Cat drew a walk, then Madi crushed a ground-rule double that bounced over the fence, scoring Katie.  After Maria drew another walk to load the bases, Kayla came through, sending a 2-2 pitch on a line over second base, scoring two more runs and breaking Eastlake's back.  Their valiant pitcher finally ran out of steam for the night and another run came in on two more walks.

With a 4-run lead, Maria got the first batter on a ground-out back to her, and struck out the next two batters to end the game.   She'd retired the last eleven batters she'd faced, nine by strikeout.

Whew.   Kingco Champions.

Onward. 

Sometimes it really is a shame that someone had to lose the game.  That was it Wednesday when we finished our season with a gritty 7-6 win over Roosevelt.

We were playing for Falcon Pride, and for our seniors on their Night.  Roosevelt was playing for a spot in the Kingco Tournament.  Game on.   The Roughriders came at us with both barrels loaded, jumped out to an early lead, then pulled off a three-run rally to tie it the last inning, before we won it in the bottom of the eighth.

The seniors----Jade, Maria, Kelsi, Gina and Cat----made their final appearance on their home field, where their three-year record is now 29-2.  Fittingly enough, each contributed solidly......

Roosevelt's superstar Izzy Batayola led of the game with a crushed line shot down the right field line, but Gina made a beautiful running catch for the out.  

Jade started at second and made several solid plays. 

Kelsi started in center and had two hits.

Maria went the distance and struck out 16 in eight innings, picking up her 11th win of the season.

And Cat had three hits and three runs batted in, with a long sacrifice fly in the bottom of the last inning that moved Mak from second to third, from where she scored the walk-off game-winner on Katie's grounder to short.

Roosevelt can hit the ball, and scored a run in each of the first two innings, before, inevitably, our bats heated up.   Finally we took control and headed into the last inning up by 3.   With two outs and nobody on, the top of Roosevelt's order showed its own competitive fire.  Izzy drew a tough, tough walk, fouling off four vicious two-strike drops from Maria before finally getting ball four.   The next batter chinked a soft wedge into short left for a base hit, bringing up Dianna Hermansen, one of the most dangerous hitters in Kingco.  

Baseball/softball people sometimes debate this quesiton:  Is a good pitch EVER hit well?   The answer is:  Sometimes.   With a 1-2 count Maria threw as good a pitch as any of the evening, a knee-high drop that licked the outside corner, but Dianna got her bat on it and it sailed down the right field line for a triple.  The next batter hit a soft grounder with eyes that snuck through, and Roosevelt had tied the game. We went down in the bottom of the inning and suddenly it was an extra-inning game.

Just as suddenly, it was over.   Maria struck out the side on 11 pitches in the top of the eighth.  Then Mak led off our half with her fifth hit (and second double) of the game.    Cat followed with a sky-high fly ball to left.  The left fielder made the play, but Mak tagged and sprinted to third ahead of the throw.   Katie stepped in and hit a grounder to the shortstop and Mak, breaking on contact, scored easily to give us the win.

After the game we honored our five seniors.  Mak's Dad and former Head Coach Jim Weir was master of ceremonies and it was an evening of laughter, tears and love.  The underclass players each presented gifts, and shared "special" memories of the seniors.  The booster club presented caricatures done by local artist and softball coach Jeff Johnson, and the ceremonies concluded with the seniors signing under their names, now posted forever on the Senior Sign.

This year's graduating class fashioned a three-year record of 56-11, and are looking for a repeat appearance in the State Tournament.

Thank You for three years of effort and excellence!

                  Jade Bowman

                  Kelsi Lakey

                  Maria Gau

                  Gina Tuthill

                  Cat Williams

Madi struck out 12 batters in six innings and the Falcon bats were hot again, as we defeated a good Ballard squad 10-0.

Dani's frozen rope homer was the walk-off game-ender, making her the fifth Falcon this season to fence a homer.  She and Alex must be among the few, if not the only sister-combinations to homer for their high school.

We avenged our only loss of the season with an 8-3 win over Lake Washington on their field.

After a scoreless first inning, Lauren tripled to lead off the second.  Cat doubled her in and we were in business. We scored another 7 times in the next two innings and with Madi in the circle the game was out of reach.

Lake Washington scored some unearned runs late but Madi picked up her sixth win of the season. 

Every batter who's ever stood in the on-deck circle as the oppposing team intentionally walked the batter in front of her has had one thought:

          I'm taking it out of here.

It happened May 5th, when Inglemoor's gutsy decision to pitch around Lauren to get to Cat backfired.   With the score tied at 2, two out and two on in the bottom of the fifth, Cat hit a 1-2 riser 225 feet to dead center for the three-run jack that provided the margin of victory in a hard fought Dad's Night battle between rivals.

Maria had another great game, with the help of some tough clutch defense behind her.  Inglemoor came to play, and after jumping out for a run in the top of the 1st, they loaded the bases in the top of the second, with no one out.   The next batter hit a sharp grounder that Emily fielded beautifully into her backhand and fired home for the out...........but the umpire called SAFE, saying that Katie's foot wasn't on the plate.  Suffice to say that History may record that to be the case, but eyewitness accounts "vary".

That being as it may, Inglemoor was now up 2 runs, the bases still jammed with no outs.  Maria served up three straight grounders and our infield got the job done, twice cutting down the runner at the plate, then getting the final out at first. 

We chipped away with a run in the fourth and might have had more but for a super-close play at the plate that again went Inglemoor's way when the umpire called Sara out.  In fairness, the photographic evidence supports that call. 

We tied it in the fifth and with two out and Sara on third, Lauren stepped in.  The first pitch was a called ball one and after a conference in the circle, Inglemoor decided to walk her intentionally.  Cat stepped in, did her thing, and Inglemoor's spirit was broken. 

Maria, who had cruised after the second inning, shut them down in the sixth and seventh and we were 14-1.  It was an especially satisfying win for the seniors, who are now 6-0 against arch-rival Inglemoor in their three-year careers, and made for a great Dad's Night post-game celebration.