PREP SOFTBALL: Sequim’s defense steps up to beat North Kitsap

SEQUIM — A flawless defensive effort by Sequim boosted the Wolves in a 6-2 Olympic League softball win over North Kitsap on Wednesday.

After booting the ball around the diamond in a loss to Port Angeles last Saturday, Sequim (8-4) doubled down on defense at practice earlier this week, and it paid off against the Vikings.

“Lots of defense,” Wolves coach Mike McFarlen said when asked what the team worked on in preparation for the game. “No errors that game. Addie [Smith] was solid [at second base], and Kianna made some great plays at first. They all played really good defense, and [pitcher] Lainy [Vig] hit her spots well and didn’t allow a walk.”

Shortstop Hannah Bates said the team’s chatter was much improved.

“I think we played a lot better defensively,” Bates said. “We were more together, talking a lot, telling each other what the situation was, how many outs, where to go with the ball. The communication was better today.”

Sequim did enough at the plate against an unexpected starting pitcher for North Kitsap, scratching six runs out on five hits and four walks versus Cerenity Fake.

Vikings’ ace Makayla Stockman injured a finger on her throwing hand in a first-inning at-bat and didn’t take the mound, instead playing an inning in center field before leaving the contest.

A four-run second inning was all the Wolves would need offensively.

Taylee Rome and Lily Fili earned back-to-back walks to open the inning, with Rome moving up to third on stolen bases. With one out, Kiana Robideau hit a trickler to Fake, who was indecisive with where to go with the ball and eventually made a throwing error trying to get Robideau at first base.

Hannah Bates followed with a two-run single to center to put Sequim up 4-0.

“Hannah was 2 for 4 with some RBIs,” McFarlen said. “We got her swinging the other way.”

Bates said she didn’t notice much of a difference between Stockman and Fake’s pitching.

“We were ready for their ace pitcher,” Bates said. “We got around on them toward the end of the first game we played against them, so we knew we could hit her [Stockman], but their other pitcher threw just as hard. It was pretty similiar.”

McFarlen also thought Fake was the real thing.

“That pitcher they put in threw pretty good, though,” McFarlen said. “She wasn’t much of a dropoff.”

The Wolves loaded the bases with no outs in the third but could only manage one run on a fielder’s choice by KK Lopez.

“We’re still not hitting like we should, but we did a good job of moving up on wild pitches,” McFarlen said.

Sequim added its final run in the fifth, when Jayla Julmist lined to right field and came home on a Mia Pozernick ground out.

Vig allowed batters to reach base in each inning from the third through the seventh but limited the damage to just two runs on nine hits, with zero walks and two strikeouts.

Bates said Vig was playing hurt.

“She does so well,” Bates said. “She got hurt yesterday in practice; she hyper-extended her knee. We were hoping she would ice [it down] and get back into it. We were kind of scared for her there. She kept her composure. She’s so good at doing that. If she makes one little mistake, she gets right back in it.”

Sequim 6, North Kitsap 2

North Kitsap 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 — 2 9 2

Sequim 0 4 0 1 1 0 x — 6 5 0

WP: Vig LP: Fake

Pitching

NK — Fake 6 IP, 6 R, 5 H, 4 BB, 4 K,

Sequim — Vig 1.1 I P, 9 R, 7 H, 3 BB, K; Rome IP, 4 R, 7 H, K; Bates 2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, K.

Hitting

Sequim — Bates 2-4, 2 RBIs; Lopez 1-3, FC, RBI; Fili 1-2, BB, R; Robideau 1-2, R.

NK — Phillips 1-3, 2 B, RBI; Becker 2-3, 2 B; Fake 1-4, RBI.

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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.