By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

West Seattle came up only two runs shy of a Sea-King softball tournament semifinal and state berth one day, then fell in the game for the fifth and final berth to state the next.

The Wildcats lost to Liberty of Issaquah, 10-1, in the consolation final at Lower Woodland Park in Seattle to see their season end Thursday.

That came a day after they opened with an 11-0 victory over Chief Sealth and lost to Juanita by only a 2-0 score. They then beat Bellevue on Thursday before losing to Liberty.

The 2-0 loss to Juanita stood out in West Seattle head coach Trevor Leopold's mind.

"It was real close," said Leopold, who was just named as the Metro League Coach of the Year. "A fly ball to left field scored one run, then there was a steal from third to home. The catcher threw it back to the pitcher, and Gabby (Wenn) walked off the mound, and she took off and scored. I was like, 'What?'"

Wednesday's first game against Sealth was scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Wildcats erupted for all 11 of their runs.

"We were a little slow off the ball, but as soon as we got going we got it going," said Leopold, who doubles as the West Seattle athletic director. "We scored 11 runs, then got three outs to end it."

The Seahawks used three pitchers in the West Seattle half inning.
The Wildcats came closest to scoring in the sixth inning of the second game.

Annalisa Ursino singled and Wenn doubled all the way to the fence, then Leopold sent Ursino on home from third.

"Their center fielder threw a rope to the shortstop, and the shortstop relayed it to the catcher, and she got Annalisa out. That was the closest we came to scoring."

So the Wildcats just missed the tournament semifinals -- and bowed out the next day.