Article Courtesy of Gerardo Bolong

Early missile strikes by Seamount League fastpitch softball champion John F. Kennedy Catholic led to the Lancers' downing of the Nisqually 1A titleist Seattle Christian 11-1 in five innings at the City of Burien's Chelsea Park on Tues., May 17.

For the Lancers ( 16-3) and the Warriors (13-4), it was another chance to keep active until the May 20-21 district tournaments at Sprinker Fields on May 20-21. 3A Kennedy had one more tune up against Bellarmine Prep on Wed., May 18, while Seattle Christian faced two days of tough practices before entering an 8 p.m Fri. district opener at Sprinker. Kennedy faces Prairie on Fri in a 10 a.m. district opener.

The Lancers avenged an earlier 6-5 loss at the Warrior home field and head coach Dino Josie felt confident about his team's metamorphosis from the start of the season
This encounter began quietly enough with Kennedy Catholic taking a 1-0 lead after the first inning. The Lancers began firing away from the plate in earnest with a 3-spot second inning plus another lone run in the third, a trio of runs in the fourth and another three runs in the fifth end the bombardment.

in the fourth inning, Kennedy was sending long, orbital shots to the deepest recesses of the outfield.

Delaney Knox shot a triple to centerfield followed by deep blast back to back home run missiles from Maggie Gallagher and Tatian Leahy as examples of power shots.

The Warriors scored their lone tally in the top of the third inning. Megan Holmberg led off with a chip shot single that dropped just behind the pitcher. Hannah Glynn then singled. Consecutive ground outs by Makezie May and Kelli Ronish pushed home the run.

"I feel great," Josie said. "We lost to the same pitcher before and she had 11 strikeouts against. Seattle Christian is a great team. We're a different team, now. We're hitting the ball harder. At the start of the season, we had a dichotomy. Our players had either lots of experience or very little. They've gotten to focus on the process. They love each other, work hard at and have, for the most part, gotten better each game. Maggie Gallagher is the best softball position player I've ever seen and I've been here 23 years as the head coach."

For Seattle Christian, this encounter was a truly bumpy clod on the road of facing tough non league opponents on the way to the playoffs.

"We're better than getting 10-runned, but we'll bounce back," said Warrior head coach Rick Ronish.

Was the experience against non league opponents enough preparation for the playoffs?

"Ask me at about 9:30 on Fri. (after facing the winner of Vashon Island-Klahowya) and I'll let you know," Ronish concluded.

Olivia Santiago earned the KC win.

In the batting barrage, Leahy posted a 3-3 day including the triple with four RBI while Gallagher batted 3-4 with four RBI and a home run and double. Brianna Blayney hit 2-3 including a triple as Elise Turpin batted 2-3 with two RBI.

Holmberg enjoyed a 2-2 batting day for the Warriors.