The Mountlake Terrace Hawks scored five runs in the first inning on their way to an 8-6 victory over Edmonds-Woodway in a Wesco League South Conference softball tilt played at Mountlake Terrace High School Thursday.

Though early in the 2016 season, Terrace Coach Shannon Rasmussen categorized the result as “a big win” for her squad, now 1-0 in conference play and 3-0 overall.

Terrace’s Julia Brocksmith clubbed a two-run triple to cap off the Hawks’ first inning five-run explosion. The freshman went 2-for-3 in the game, adding another extra-base hit – a triple – later in the match-up.

Hawk sophomore Sammy Ruiz also went 2-for-3 in the game, contributed three RBI’s and scored two runs in the win.

After the Warriors pulled to within a run at 5-4, Terrace turned some aggression on the base paths to three more runs on the scoreboard. Two Hawks scored on a Ruiz single to short right field, including Ashley Fitzgerald all the way from second base, a move that especially pleased Rasmussen.

“Ashley going home was huge,” Rasmussen said. “I was just telling her to take a look (when she rounded third base) and she took a look and saw that the first baseman wasn’t paying attention and she was gone.”

“That’s been one of our big things – we’ve been really aggressive with our baserunning,” Rasmussen explained of her team’s early season success. “And they’ve been really smart about it. They’re not running into outs but they’ve been taking those extra bases. The girls have been really aware of where the ball is at and taking any extra base they can get.”

Ruiz got the start on the mound and picked up the victory on Thursday. She was assisted with the pitching duties by Hawk senior Gabby Calhoun, who took over at the start of the fourth inning and gave up just two runs.

Rasmussen was weary of the Warriors’ ability to score runs and had come into the match-up prepared. “They definitely can come out and drive some runs in. We made sure we had a couple of pitchers ready to come in,” she said.

In their four games so far this year, E-W has put 33 runs on the scoreboard, an average of more than eight runs per game.

“I’m reasonably pleased with our offense,” said Warriors Coach Mike Venable. “We’ve been putting the ball into play, we’ve been making good decisions on the bases and we’ve been, I think, taking advantage of every opportunity as far as scoring when we get the chance. So I’m pleased with our offense, but we just need to start a little stronger, stop putting ourselves in a hole.”

“We gave up early runs and it’s really hard to come back all the way from those,” he said regarding Thursday’s loss.

Kaitlyn Rust went 2-for-4 at the plate while teammate Kendra Cooper had a two-run double to lead the E-W offense on Thursday.

The Warriors have a couple days off before they hit the road again on Monday, March 28, for a contest against the Lynnwood Royals. Terrace will next host the Meadowdale Mavericks in a clash of unbeatens on Friday, March 25, at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Prep Softball: Edmonds-Woodway at Mountlake Terrace, Mar. 24

Edmonds-Woodway              0   1   3     0   0   2     0     —     6   6   2
Mountlake Terrace     5   0   0     0   3   0     x     —     8   5   1

Winning pitcher: Sammy Ruiz (Mountlake Terrace)
Losing pitcher: Mariah Woolery (Edmonds-Woodway)

Records: Edmonds-Woodway 1-1 in Wesco League South Conference, 2-2 overall; Mountlake Terrace 1-0 in Wesco League South Conference, 3-0 overall

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski