The home victory on Thursday, April 3, against Sammamish was a critical one for the Mount Si High School softball team. With the Wildcats now at 2-3 in league, the win kept them in the hunt for postseason glory. It turned out be a much closer game than the team hoped for, but a win is still a win, and Mount Si may have discovered a youth movement in the process.

Freshman junior varsity call-ups Alex Johnson and Danielle Massengill both played critical roles for the Wildcats as they held off a tough Totems squad 9-6. Massengill hit a triple that scored a run, and Johnson pitched the final two innings and held her own despite giving up four hits and a couple of runs.

“Freshman girls, they want to prove something. Those two and Megan Stone, [who] again today carried us,” said Wildcat coach Larry White, as his team moved to 5-4 overall, 2-3 in league, with the victory. Stone had a solid day as well, with two hits including a triple in the second inning, and three runs.

Mount Si broke out to a big 5-0 lead after two innings, before the Totems got on the scoreboard in the third with a pair of runs. Massengill’s triple in the fifth was the key hit in a two-run frame that appeared to put things out of reach. The Totems fought back against Johnson, however, scoring runs in both the sixth and seventh, before the freshman reliever struck out the final Sammamish hitter in the seventh to seal the victory.

Massengill was pleased with her efforts, but added that there’s room for improvement.

“Got a lot to work on; that’s what practice is for,” Massengill said.

Her transition to varsity was helped by her older teammates.

“They’ve been doing a really good job. They’ve just kind of pulled me right in and it’s really nice,” she said.

Johnson was also pleased with her performance.

“I thought I did pretty good. I didn’t get hit that much,” Johnson said. She also showed her resiliency on the mound, continuing to pitch well despite the distractions of Sammamish coach Mike Eckhart’s disputes with umpires over ball and strike calls twice during the freshman’s two innings. For Johnson, dealing with situations like that requires a lot of focus.

“I get mad at the umpires a lot, but you’ve just got to deal with it and move on to your next pitch,” she said.

Mount Si is home Thursday, April 10, against an Issaquah team that currently is in first place in league. Errors cost the Wildcats in their first meeting with the Eagles at the beginning of the season, so if they clean that up and get solid efforts from their veteran players, Mount Si could end up scoring a victory that could be very useful down the road. First pitch is 4:30 p.m.

Softball camp very successful despite unkind weather

Mount Si’s softball camp went off as scheduled March 29 despite snowy weather. The camp drew around 40 kids, who had a great experience.

“It was really fun. The kids had a great time,” said White. “The older kids were tremendous with the girls. They all just loved it and it was a great fund-raiser.”

Among the participants, over 20 of them were from the Lower Valley, which pleased White.

“I guess they’ve heard good things about our camp; they’re excited about it,” he said. White also told the Valley Record the program will hold a summer camp the week of July 14-18 at the high school for players ages 8-16. More information on that will be announced later this spring.