By Ed Shepherd
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Evergreen could not get the bat to connect on the ball all game for even one hit off Highline pitcher Nicole Jacobson on Monday and all the while the Pirates connected again and again in a 13-0 girls fastpitch win at Moshier Park in Burien.

"Nicole was tough out there," said Highline coach Emily Ezpeleta, whose team won by the 10-run rule so it was only a four inning long game. "And we hit the ball well."

The Pirates moved to 2-1 in the Seamount League and the Wolverines dropped to 3-2, but still are well in the race for a playoff berth with a lot of season left to play.

So, after this game, what was Wolverines' coach Darryl Felix emphasizing to his girls about the Pirates' win?

"We went from playing three teams with not the best pitching to a stud," said Felix.

Sums things up cogently, and appreciatively, even, of this game and specifically of Jacobson's awesome mound work.

Jacobson liked her efforts on the hill?

"Yes," said Jacobson, who notched 10 strikeouts while walking two. "It went well."

Wolverines' pitcher Keiki Waiau spoke, describing the experience on the mound she went through against the Pirates' hitters.

"It was rough, kind of," said Waiau.

Waiau explained that the Pirates were swinging the bat on a certain strike pitch -- the third strike -- and clobbering the ball. "They were hitting strike three."

Added a Wolverines' teammate Amie Nikula of the Pirates' savvy hitting, "They knew what to hit."

Starting off this game, in which the Pirates clubbed out 13 hits, Jacobson struck out the first two Wolverines' batters she faced. She induced the third batter to hit a ground ball to second baseman Jenny Hovland, who fielded it and,threw to first baseman Sienna Herrera for out number three.

Then up came the Pirates to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and leadoff hitter Graciana Mecklenberg singled to right field. She stole second and third bases before Hovland collected an RBI sacrifice on a fielder's choice ball hit to second base. Hovland got out on the grounder, running to first base, but scoring from third was Mecklenberg running hard on a hit-and-run called by coach Ezpeleta.

"We are pretty aggressive on running the bases," said Ezpeleta, who then talked about Wolverines' pitcher Waiau. "She is a fine pitcher, one of the faster ones we've come across so far this season."

After a single from Jacobson put runners at second and third, the Pirates' Kiara Lei-Sam made it 3-0 with a two-run single to right field. Next, after a walk issued to Lauren Gower, Angel Bradshaw finished off the offensive production nicely in the home half of the first for the Pirates by fouling off four pitches. This explained, too, that the Wolverines' Waiau was fighting hard on the mound for outs, pitching accurately, trying to get that third strike in against Bradshaw here. But Bradshaw won the battle, as with a one ball, two strike count she put bat on ball, sending it screaming into left field -- a hot grounder bounding between shortstop and third base. So it was 5-0 Pirates, after one inning played.

In inning two for the visitors, Jacobson sent the Wolverines' batters down in order 1-2-3. Then, in the bottom of the second, the Pirates' put this one out of reach with Mecklenberg leading off again, singling to right field. Then a walk, steal of second and third by Mecklenberg, and a fielder's choice RBI sacrifice by Herrera to second base allowed Mecklenberg to score from third.
Then Jacobson collected an RBI single, so it was 7-0 and the Pirates were going to get the score to 10-0 before the second inning expired.
Then three more runs for the Pirates crossed the plate in the fourth inning to constitute the final score.

Still, that goes to say that one inning, the third, went well for Waiau pitching. The Pirates did not score on Waiau in that one, and Waiau got two batters to strike out and a third to pop out to her running in,off the mound, intuitively, to catch the ball. And, by this time in the game, with the Wolverines down, 10-0, Waiau could have been getting her head down. But Waiau kept battling, this third inning showed.

"She had a good third," said Felix of Waiau. "She only faced four batters."

There was some good sportsmanship, too, in this game. On one play, in the bottom of the first inning, for example, the Pirates' Lauren Gower rounded first base, after having drawn a walk and, was hoping to catch the pitcher, Waiau, off guard. So Gower did, getting safely into second base, sliding, but she collided with Wolverines' shortstop Kaleigha Lang on the play.

"You OK," said Gower, as Lang was going back to her shortstop postion, looking a little shaken up, after the play.
"Yeah, my hand got hit," she said.
Gower showed sympathy, again, "My helmet is a lot harder than your hand."
"Yeah," said Lang, back. Lang stayed tough, in the game, playing.

So, the Pirates won this one and are with trying to get to districts, a place the Wolverines would like to go, too, undoubtably.

"We have a young team, but we are doing well. We are confident we can go to districts," said Ezpeleta, whose team's only senior is Jacobson.

The players alluded to what it's going to take to make it to the postseason when mid May rolls around after its last regular season game.

"Work smarter, not harder," said Gower.

And, added Herrera, "Work hard. Play hard."

Waiau, for the Wolverines, stated the honorable thing to say about this game from the Wolverines' side of things.

"They were good competition," she said of the Pirates.

Highline coach Ezpeleta came over with her girls to the Wolverines' side after the game.

"We like to honor a player after each game we play, and in this game--," said Ezpeleta, waiting for the next words from one of her players to say who was picked.
"It's your pitcher," said Bradshaw, smiling, going over to Waiau to give her a prize of a bottle of Gatorade with a package of candy, all neatly wrapped by a purple ribbon.

That seemed appropriate honoring, as Waiau gave props to Highline for their effort against her pitching in this game, having said the Pirates were a competitive team. And that all put a nice taste in everyone's mouth after this one, as, some Pirates' players, like Samantha Cigarroa, Hovland and Bradshaw hugged Waiau before going back to their side of the field following the game's conclusion.