By Gerardo Bolong

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

AUBURN - Kennedy Catholic High School utilized a strong menu of skills to blow the doors open in a 21-7 North Puget Sound League 4A tournament fastpitch victory against Kentridge on Fri., May 11, at Auburn Mountainview High School.

This game was a continuation of a Thursday night match up that was stopped after one inning of play due to flooding conditions at the Kent Service Center Park fields.

Trailing 1-0 after the one completed inning in Kent, the Lancers erupted to force a 21-7 stoppage after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

As a result, Kennedy qualified for a May 15 play in game to West Central District III.

"It was a great team win," said KC head coach Dino Josie. "Everyone was hot. Brianna (Blayney), Hanna (Scandiffio), Tatiana (Leahy), and Morgan (Mueller) had big hits. The bottom of the lineup executed their bunts. The top four (batters) just killed it."

Restarting the game in the top of the second inning, Kennedy Catholic immediately gained the lead with Mueller's lead off triple igniting the rally. Mueller would later score on a wild pitch, the first of many that were exacerbated by the raised front of home plate. This condition caused nightmares for the catchers as the ball would hit this spot and bounce high and deep over the catcher's head. Hailee Simpson singled with one out to eventually touch home plate on a Camryn Rust base-hit.

This was merely a foreshadowing of the fireworks yet to come for Kennedy Catholic.

In the top of the third inning, the Lancers bombed away big time. Scandiffio and Leahy opened with back-to-back singles before Mueller slammed a deep blast inside the park home run to left centerfield for three runs and a 5-1 lead. Marianna DeSimone singled and advanced to second base on a ground out to maintain the surge. Twelve batters went to the plate for KC with Scandiffio homering as part of the eight-spot inning.

KR scored two runs in the bottom of the frame for a 10-3 score.

Kennedy Catholic power and judicious bunting continued with Blayney powering a three-run home run in a seven-run Lancer fourth in an extension of the KC margin to 17-3, but the Chargers responded with four runs in the home half to make the score 17-7.

Yust and Blayney each hit singles with Scandiffio's RBI single and a three-run homer from Leahy closing out the scoring.

Scandiffio came to the mound in the bottom of the fifth to end the game with a scoreless stint.

"It was refreshing (after the Lancers had lost their first tournament game 8-7 on a seventh inning home run in Kent)," said Leahy who finished with a trio of hots. "It was like starting again. It was a new game and we mentally re-prepared."