For a short while, this game was tough going, as in close, as in having Tyee rally back gamely in the middle innings to stay within striking distance of the host Highline Pirates. But the purple and black uniformed young ladies pulled away with a couple big innings late to win going away, 16-8, at Mosier Field Monday.

"We are young, but we play well," said Pirates head coach Dave Stark.

There's no way to put it into a complete picture, but to say it as competitively as possible, this game did indeed have the makings of a good old fashioned rivalry. Players getting hit with the ball. Screaming from the benches pretty much all game long. It was all there in this competitive furnace of a fire.

The Pirates moved to a 4-0 lead in the first, so that was not so suspenseful a beginning for sports fans who crave close actoin. The big blow in that innning came off the bat of Rachel Williams, getting a two-run scoring double in the bottom of the first.

"That was probably the biggest thing early on, Rachel's double," said Stark.

But the Totems upped the ante instead of rolling over like they've done in the past (last year Tyee won only two games- over the same Renton team each time for their only wins of the season).

The top of the third was a good Totems inning, getting three runs on two hits. A couple walks preceded a triple from the black and red uniform young ladies' leading hitter Marie-Fay Schaffer. That scored two runs, so, just like that, the Totems were right back in it, down 4-3.

The rally died a little short of overcoming the Pirates' lead, thanks to a nice ground out from the Pirates' shortstop fielding the ball and throwing to Jenaye Simpson, scooping it nicely for the final out of the inning. Next was the Pirates' turn and the Pirates pitcher, Krista Childs, a senior, showed she could do more than just pitch for her team. She could listen to her coach, for one thing.

"Go on and hit that ball, don't move your head and protect," said Stark.

Wham!

The very next pitch Childs struck the ball and it flashed poisonously over the third-base line for a two-RBI single that ended up being an inning-ending out because Childs tried to stretch the single into a double. That was the insurance the Pirates needed to keep the Totems' confidence waning.

"It was a good pitch, I hit the ball," said Childs.

It was 6-3, Pirates.

And, it became 9-3 Pirates after that, mostly from walks. Three runners were forced in, and seven walked in the inning. So that was not pretty and really made things rough on the foe bussing in.

So, the Totems, again could have folded, down six, but they did not completely wane, coming back in fact for two runs in the top of the fifth. The big comeback shot of the inning came off the bat of Schaffer, The ball didn't stop until it flew over the right center fielder's head and Schaffer had enough time to round all four bases for a two-run inside-the-park home run to cut the Pirates' lead to 9-5.

Schaffer was pitched to in this game by Childs,the Pirates' most-used pitcher. And Schaffer kept her Tyee team in the RBI column pretty much every time she was at bat.

"I tried to pitch inside but she pretty much hit everything I threw," said Childs.

"She is definitely a good hitter."

That's where the fun stopped for the Totems and started for the Pirates who scored another run the bottom of five to make it a 10-5 cushion.

Some threats came next for Tyee, in the top of six, but that was all.

The Totems got two runners on base, but could not score them.

The Pirates would have no problem scoring, fortunately for them, in their bottom of the sixth, scoring enough runs to make it a 16-5 game. All those runs came on a variety of things, including Williams and Child getting in on the act, and about all the rest of the Pirates' lineup. But the Totems still were in this one a lot of the game.

"We came back and that was good and then, nuh," said Barbara Weston, facial expression saying something like, we needed more of that rally stuff in the game.

This Tyee team can improve, too. Players like Joe Lelu and Kelcie Stucke, who had hits in this game, and others can and will win some games if their offense continues doing this kind of thing a little more consistently than one or two innings. Also, fastpitch is so dependent on pitching, it is necessary for pitchers that usually pitch to be able to come to games instead of having to work or what else they must do in place of fastpitch.

So, yes, that is just it said above of Tyee pitching, and a lack thereof hurting the team. Weston stated those facts of that matter: "We were missing our pitchers tonight. I asked Schaffer in 7th period today if she would pitch. She said 'yes.' That is the kind of player she is. She may not really want to do something, but she will still do it to fill a need of the team."

Schaffer thanks her father, too, for her good skill and motivation, besides her coach, and surely others for her raw talents which had her among the Seamount League leaders in home runs last year. And her father is good for the rest, too, who all truthfully, not just Schaffer, put together a good effort against a solid Pirates fastpitch squad that relentlessly scored points to begin the first three innings and continued that mode throughout the game.

"I am a catcher usually," said Schaffer. "My hitting was good, my pitching was not good."

Weston, her coach, continued,

"She is a good player. She could play for Kennedy or another team, but she has pride in her school and her team and chooses to play here."