Enumclaw fastpitch: Hornets will take league’s No. 2

Enumclaw High’s fastpitch squad became firmly entrenched in second place last week after hosting and annihilating Lakes 13-0 in five innings and before that visiting Auburn Mountainview and working out a 9-5 victory over the Lions.

“We are happy with where we are now,” said EHS coach Michael Echhart of his 10-2 crew, which has sufffered only a pair of setbacks to Bonney Lake in this league season. “We were mired down in a funk, during the last couple of weeks. I think we have sort of snapped out of that now though and we are peaking at just the right time,” he said.

After finishing its league campaign this week by traveling to Franklin Pierce and hosting White River, Enumclaw will lock into battle with the Seamount’s No 1 seed, the 16-0 Kennedy Lancers, in the subdistrict tournament at the Sprinker Recreation Center fields, beginning at 4 p.m. May 15.

The Hornet girls raised a few eyebrows on their Boise Creek Sixplex home digs Thursday evening, when Austin Rogers and fresh face on the mound Jen VanKooten combined for a five-inning no-hitter versus the Lady Lancers.

Offensively against Lakes, senior shortstop Taylor Franich, who is currently hitting at a torrid .590 pace from the plate, went 4-for-4 and scored three times. Meanwhile, teammates Ashley Dell’Osa and Kassi Young both went 3-for-3 at the dish, each of them scoring twice.

In the early contest last week, when Enumclaw journeyed north to encounter Auburn Mountainview, Franich excelled from the plate, as she smacked an inside-the-park home run to get the party started and her fellow Hornets responded in kind tabulating eight more runs. Rogers, who is averaging more than 10 strikeouts per contest, also contributed with a 13-strike out performance to elevate her individual pitching litany to 7-1.

Enumclaw was already scheduled to travel to Franklin Pierce Tuesday; results came too late to report here but will be posted at www.courierherald.com. The Hornets will host White River at 7 p.m. Thursday.

It will be senior night and Eckhart promises that with music and an announcer on hand it will be anything but an ordinary affair.

Reach John Leggett at jleggett@courierherald.com or 360-802-8207.

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