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With the 2026 regular season quickly winding down, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks are looking to finish strong and land a top-six berth in the postseason District 1 3A tournament in May. A matchup against the 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference leader, the Shorewood Stormrays, on Wednesday gave the Hawks a chance to prove that they belong among the top six teams in District 1.
But instead, some defensive lapses and struggles to mount a consistent offensive push showed that the Hawks still have some work to do during the final stretch of the regular season.
In a game where the team committed six errors and sent the minimum of nine batters to the plate in the final three innings, Mountlake Terrace suffered a 9-2 home defeat to the first-place Stormrays.
Shorewood, after picking up a couple of unearned runs in the second inning, scored five more in the third. The onslaught started innocently enough with a Grace McLaughlin single up the middle. But after Rose Gallagher and Alyssa Carver followed with bunt singles that loaded the bases, an error by Terrace third baseman Brielle Contreras allowed McLaughlin to score.
Later in the top of the third, Gallagher scored on a bases-loaded walk, Ellie Van Horn hit an RBI single, Cameryn Hubbard scored on a wild pitch and Lillian Perreault stroked an RBI single to left field.
Now up 7-1, the Stormrays (7-1 in the 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 10-5 overall) were able to coast to the easy victory and extend their lead over the Hawks in the conference standings by three games in the loss column.
“We definitely had a really, really rough inning defensively,” said Terrace Coach Shannon Rasmussen of the fateful top of the third.
“I feel like today they came out and found our weakness,” Rasmussen said. “We were definitely struggling at the beginning of the game with fielding their bunts. And they just kept laying it down to us — which is a smart job, as a coach, to keep having (his team) bunt until we figure it out.”
Five of Shorewood’s 10 hits in the game came via the bunt, including two from the first two batters the Stormrays sent to the plate in the first inning, Zoey Perreault and Van Horn.
While Shorewood showed lots of life at the plate early on, it was actually Mountlake Terrace that got on the scoreboard first in the contest. In the bottom of the first inning, senior Bri Reyes singled up the middle and then, later in the inning, scored on an RBI single by Olivia Brown.
“It was nice to come out and get that first run in the first inning,” Rasmussen said. “I feel we came out hitting right away.”
The Hawks scored another single run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Brown crossed the plate on a fielder’s choice. But then the Terrace batters went silent. Avery Roesler led off the fifth inning with a walk but was then caught off the bag and tagged out, followed by eight straight Hawk batters retiring in order.
Rasmussen gave credit to Van Horn, the Stormrays’ No. 1 pitcher, for keeping her Hawks in check at the plate. Their pitcher (Van Horn) is a good pitcher; she changes it up a lot,” Rasmussen said.
Van Horn scattered five Terrace hits and struck out seven in a complete-game performance to earn the victory for the Stormrays.
Junior Charlotte Snook started on the mound for the Hawks, went all seven innings, gave up 10 hits but only one earned run and struck out seven.
Brown led the Hawks at the plate by going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Following the contest, Rasmussen put into perspective the Hawks’ loss to the Stormrays. She noted her team’s big stretch of games to end the regular season, their quest to earn a top-six seed in the district tournament and thus avoid any tourney loser-out games for teams seeded 7-12 that begin on Friday, May 8.
“To not have to play next Friday (in a loser-out game) is a really big deal,” Rasmussen explained. “It would be nice to be able to just have my girls be able to take a little time off, have an extra day or two to settle them and get ready for districts.”
“We would love to beat Shorewood — and we really wanted to,” Rasmussen said. “But we also knew that today was not the game that we absolutely have to win. We’ve got two other big games coming up that are against other league opponents that we do need to come through and, hopefully, lock up one of top six (berths).”
Terrace (6-4 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference play, 8-8 overall) will face Archbishop Murphy and Edmonds-Woodway in conference matchups to end the regular season, with a non-league game against Lake Stevens wedged in between. All three games are on the road, starting with the matchup against the Wildcats on Friday, May 1, at Archbishop Murphy High School.
Prep Fastpitch Softball: Shorewood at Mountlake Terrace, April 29
Shorewood 0 2 5 0 1 1 0 – 9 10 0
Mountlake Terrace 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 – 2 5 6
Winning pitcher: Ellie Van Horn (Shorewood); 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 ER, 7 SO, 1 BB
Losing pitcher: Charlotte Snook (Mountlake Terrace); 10 hits, 9 runs, 1 ER, 7 SO, 4 BB
Records: Mountlake Terrace 6-4 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 8-8 overall; Shorewood 7-1 in 2A/3A Wesco League South Conference, 10-5 overall
Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Archbishop Murphy; Friday, May 1; 4 p.m. at Archbishop Murphy High School
Shorewood next game: versus Meadowdale; Thursday, April 30; 4 p.m. at Meadowdale Playfield
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