Richer's Two Homers Punch Lake Stevens Softball's Ticket to State Tourney
Lake Stevens and Jackson go 4-0 Monday, earning trips to state as Kamiak and Glacier Peak face loser-out games Thursday. Game recaps and Wesco notebook inside.
EVERETT — Senior WWU-commit McKenna Richer homered twice, doubled twice and drove in four runs over two games Monday as Lake Stevens softball punched a ticket to the WIAA 4A State Tournament with a pair of victories in the WesKing District Tournament at Phil Johnson Field in Everett.
Lake Stevens 8 Juanita 2 - Final
After nabbing the fourth and final Wesco seed, the Viks weren’t afforded the luxury of a bye as they were last season. Monday, Lake needed to beat Juanita in an opening-round 4:00 pm matchup to avoid a near-impossible slog through the loser’s bracket of the 12-team bi-district tournament.
And beat Juanita they did, with senior Charli Pugmire continuing a dominant run from the circle, earning the complete game victory, scattering two earned runs and striking out six.
Rightfielder McKenna Richer went 3 for 4 from the leadoff spot, smacking a homer and two doubles, driving in two.
Sophomore catcher Alaina Emme added three hits, freshman shortstop Reese Breckenridge had two hits including a double and a stolen base, Emerson Cummins hit her team-leading sixth homer and Alexis Osterholtz added a three-run bomb.
Pugmire moved to 8-5 on the season, lowering her ERA to 2.33.
Over her last five starts, Pugmire has been as good as any pitcher in the state.
The righty is 4-1 with just six earned runs allowed over 33.2 innings pitched – good for a 1.26 ERA over the stretch run. And the one loss? That’s when Pugmire pitched 10 innings but took the L despite not allowing a single earned run in Lake’s 1-0 extra inning loss to Glacier Peak.
Centerfielder Alyssa Anderson added a great play from the field, notching an outfield assist, cutting down a would-be Juanita run at the plate, with Emme applying a perfect sweep tag.
After a season and a half of error-plagued defense, the Viks may have turned a corner – Lake didn’t commit an error over 14 innings of defense Monday.
Lake Stevens 5 Redmond 3 – Final
After dispatching Juanita, Lake had six minutes to prepare for first pitch versus Redmond in a winner-to-state contest.
No problem for the Viks.
Lake’s McKenna Richer was ready to go at precisely 6:00 pm, smoking the first pitch of the game deep over the left centerfield fence, up over the berm and onto a gravel path some 30 feet uphill from the base of the fence.
It was Richer’s second bomb of the afternoon — and one of her four extra base hits on the day.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to J425 | The Journal 425 to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.