Article courtesy of Gerardo Bolong

AUBURN - SPSL Class 3A second place Auburn Mountainview jumped on top of Nisqually 1A League champion Seattle Christian early on Mon., May 16, en route to a character building and skills experience 7-2 home win under intensely cloudy skies.

The home standing Lions drew positives from the victory, but the Lady Warriors also drew plusses from playing tough non leaguers.

"I love it," said sophomore outfielder Madisen Fors. "It's a good opportunity to learn from other teams. It helps to go against fast pitching and it makes us better when we play against 1A teams."

Fors reached base three times on a pair of infield singles and an infield error.Seattle Christian took a short-lived lead in the top of the first inning beginning with a Fors infield single that glanced off the pitcher's mitt. Carlee Ronish moved the runner to second base on a fielder's choice ground out before Lisa Kumasaka launched an opposite field double to left field. Abby Hay then lined a run-scoring single to centerfield.Auburn Mountainview pounded the ball hard for a five-spot in the home half of the inning.

Five runs on five hits sparked by two ringing ground rule doubles sent the Lions into a 5-1 lead. Two additional runs in the second inning by AM were helpful, but unnecessary as the Lady Warrior bats went silent for the majority of the game.

Starting Seattle Christian pitcher Carlee Ronish recovered from the nightmare start to record three consecutive shut out innings before Kumasa took over with one runner on base to close out the top of the seventh.The Lady Warriors stage a bit of an uprising in the sixth inning with an infield single and a bunt-o-rama of sorts.Kumasaka led off with an infield single. One fly out later, with Kumusaka on second base by way of a steal, Grace Harwell drew a base on balls. Hannah Glynn followed by placing a bunt nicely for a single to load the bases. Mikayla Kogle groundrd out to first base to score a run as SC looked to rally longer.

Makenzie May set down a bunt single down the first base line, but the final out of the inning was recorded when a base runner was tagged out for venturing too far off base on the same play series."It was a shaky start," concluded warrior head coach Rick Ronish.Kumasaka finished the game by batting 2-for-3.Seattle Christian concludes the regular season on Tues., May 17, at Chelsea Park against Kennedy Catholic before beginning West Central District action on Fri., May 20, on the fields at Sprinker Recreation.