2008 State Championship Tournament State softball: Monroe wins The Bearcats headed off to the State tournament as the Wesco 3rd seed and started the tournament with a win against Central Kitsap in the first round behind Birch's no hitter with 14 strikeouts. The Bearcats broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the top of the sixth, when Megan McKinney’s bases-loaded line drive was misplayed by the rightfielder to score both Monroe runs. The Bearcats next faced tournament favorite Shadle Park (21-0) in a quarterfinal at 3 p.m. PREP SOFTBALL: Monroe bumped by defending champs, still in the hunt for a trophy By Scott M. Johnson Herald Writer TACOMA -- If the Monroe fastpitch softball team was even the slightest bit intimidated by the prospect of facing unbeaten defending champion Shadle Park in a 4A state tournament game on Friday afternoon, the Bearcats certainly weren't showing it. After leadoff hitter Jordan Birch hit a deep fly ball on her first at-bat against University of Oregon-bound pitcher Sam Skillingstad, she returned to the dugout and told several teammates: "She's so hittable." Monroe's next batter, Tessa Degel, ran out a passed ball and bumped Shadle Park first baseman Megan Skillingstad -- Sam's freshman sister -- so hard that the first baseman fell on her behind. And then No. 3 hitter Briar Stanley followed up a sharply-hit single by exchanging a few spirited words with the younger Skillingstad at first base. The Bearcats had plenty of bark heading into their quarterfinal matchup with the state's top team. But in the end, Shadle Park bit back in a big way. After Sam Skillingstad led off the second inning with a solo home run -- the first earned run off Birch in six games -- Shadle Park's Highlanders cruised to their 22nd consecutive victory by way of a 7-1 win over Monroe. And the only talking the Bearcats could do afterward was about what could have been. "They're the defending champions, and they play with a lot of confidence," Monroe coach Curt Eskeback said. "We made some mistakes in one inning (the third), and good teams take advantage of that. Other than that, it's just wouldas, couldas and shouldas." Birch's afternoon came apart shortly after the home run, but not necessarily because of it. After yielding a 290-foot shot to the elder Skillingstad, and offering her congratulations as Shadle Park's star rounded third, Birch struck out the next three batters to finish the second inning. But her final strikeout came with a toll. A callous on her index finger that has been bothering her for a few weeks broke open on the pitch. She later said she was not allowed to tape it up, so Birch applied a little Super-glue and pitched through the pain. Obviously bothered by the injury, Birch gave up a leadoff double to start the third. Another hit and two Monroe errors opened the door for five Shadle Park runs and a 6-0 Monroe deficit. "(The injury) was painful, but mostly I was frustrated because of the way the game was going," Birch said of the third-inning meltdown. "We just had one bad inning." Birch pitched just one more inning after that. After throwing a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts in Monroe's opening-round win Friday morning, she gave up six runs off three hits in the quarterfinal. Stanley ended Skillingstad's shutout bid with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. "It felt great," Stanley said. "Sam's an awesome pitcher -- she's going to Oregon -- so it feels great to hit one off her." As for the early fireworks, Stanley said: "We were fired up; they were fired up. Those first couple of innings, we played with them and it looked like it was going to be a good game." Birch returned to the mound for a consolation game against Mountain View late Friday night and pitched a 1-0 shutout to keep the Bearcats' season alive. She also scored the game-winning run on a passed ball in the top of the seventh. PREP SOFTBALL Monroe was the only remaining local team heading into Saturday play. But the Bearcats bowed out after an exciting, eight-inning game against Wilson of Tacoma. Wilson beat Monroe 6-4 to end the Bearcats' season. For the second day in a row, Wilson's Anthea Aasen knocked out a Snohomish County team when she drove in a pair of runs with a single in the top of the eighth. Aasen, who beat Marysville-Pilchuck with the game-winning hit Friday night, tied Saturday morning's game 1-1 in the seventh before teammate Courtney Cabrera cleared the bases with a double for a 4-1 lead. Monroe rallied in the bottom of the seventh, tying the score on Tessa Degel's two-RBI double. But Aasen struck again in the top of the eighth, doubling with runners on first and second. Final: Monroe-2, Central Kitsap-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 0 CK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley; Carolyn Cross and Katie Hanten. WP — Birch. LP — Cross. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, 7 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 14 Ks. Final: Monroe-1, Shadle Park-7 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 1 SP 0 1 5 0 1 0 - 7 6 2 Jordan Birch, Jessica Berlinger (5) and Briar Stanley; Sam Skillingstad and Tressa Predisik. WP — Skillingstad. LP — Birch. Monroe highlights — Briar Stanley, 2-3, HR. Shadle Park highlights — Haylee Cushner, 2 2B; Sam Skillingstad, HR, 7 IP, 13 Ks. Records — Monroe 20-4, Shadle Park 27-0. Final: Monroe-1, Mountain View-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 3 MV 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley; Kendra Suhr, Kelly Low (6). WP — Birch. LP — Low. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, run, 7 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 14 Ks. Records — Monroe 21-4. Final: Monroe-4, Wilson-6 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 4 2 0 WHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 6 8 1 Kellie Ruth and Anthea Aasen; Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley. WP — Ruth. LP — Birch. Wilson highlights — Anthea Aasen, 2-4, 3 RBI, 2B. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, 2 RBI, 2B, 8 IP, 11 Ks. Records — Monroe 21-5.

Bearcats 2008 District Tournament

Wesco 3rd Place Monroe 1, Mountlake Terrace 0: The Monroe Bearcats took the hard road to the state tournament, winning back-to-back games Saturday after falling to Marysville-Pilchuck the previous day. Monroe's ace pitcher, Jordan Birch, continued to dominated the competition with 14 shutout innings. She allowed just one run -- it was unearned -- in 28 innings of tournament play. Birch (17-3) gave up just two earned runs in 148 innings during the regular season and district tournament. She struck out 57 batters in the four games of the tournament, including 13 in each of Saturday's wins. Teammate Briar Stanley drove in the game-winning run in a 2-0 victory over Cascade in Saturday's opener, then Tessa Degel drove in the lone run as the Bearcats (18-3) beat Mountlake Terrace 1-0 in the winner-to-state game. It marks the third consecutive trip to the state tournament for Monroe, which got a boost from the return of senior Shannon Fretz. She was playing for the first time since suffering major injuries in a car accident on Highway 2 in Final: Monroe-1, Mountlake Terrace-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 4 1 MLT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 Jordan Birch struck out 13 and walked one in a two-hitter to get the Bearcats (20-3) to state and send the Hawks (18-7) home. Tessa Degel drove in the only run in the third inning. Kori Seidlitz of Terrace allowed only four hits Final: Monroe-2, Cascade-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 2 4 1 MLT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 Kelsey Rutter and Taylor Pilkenton; Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley. WP — Birch. LP — Rutter. Cascade highlights — Kelsey Rutter, 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, run, 7 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 13 Ks, 0 BBs; Tessa Degel, run; Briar Stanley, RBI. Records — Cascade 11-11, Monroe 19-3. 1-1 In First Round After a season of close one run wins, the District tournament would prove to be much the same. In the first round game against Kamiak the score remained tied at 0 until the 5th inning when Briar Stanley lead off with a single and ended up scoring the game winning run. The second game against Marysville ended in the same score but this time the Bearcats were on the losing end. Birch struck out 14 and coupled with the 18 she fanned in the 1-0 win over Kamiak, the senior had 32 strikeouts in 14 innings. "You have to score one to win and every loss we've had this season has been 1-0," Monroe coach Curt Eskeback said of his 17-3 team. Fritz had eight strikeouts and allowed only two singles by Birch. Final: Monroe-1, Kamiak-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 1 0 KHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Alyssa Malland and Adrianna Droz; Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley. WP — Birch. LP — Malland. Kamiak highlights — Alyssa Malland, 6 IP, 1 hit. Kamiak highlignts - Droz, 1 single. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, 7 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 18 Ks; Briar Stanley, 1 single, game-winning run. Records — Kamiak 9-12, Monroe 18-3. Final: Monroe-0, Marysville-Pilchuck-1 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 MP 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 Riley Fritz and Courtney Perrine; Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley. WP — Fritz. LP — Birch. Marysville-Pilchuck highlights — Riley Fritz, 7 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 8 Ks; Megan Rollings, 1B. Skyler Peterson, 1 single. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, 2 hits, 14 Ks. Records — Marysville-Pilchuck 12-7, Monroe 17-3.

Bearcats 2008 Season Highlights 2nd Half

May 7th 2008 - Monroe vs. Snohomish At Monroe, Snohomish attempted to intentionally walk Monroe's Briar Stanley in the bottom of the seventh inning, but a pitch sailed over the plate and the Bearcats' catcher hit a game-winning RBI double to score Emily Guluarte from second base. Monroe's Jordan Birch pitched a one-hitter, striking out 13 in the Wesco North game. Monroe, the Wesco North champion, begins 4A District 1 playoff competition next Thursday. Final: Monroe-1, Snohomish-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 1 OHH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Chrisman, Johnson (4), Kash (6) and Gilhang. Birch and Stanley. WP--Birch (15-2). LP--Kash. 2B--Stanley (M). Records--Snohomish 4-11 league, 8-11 overall. Monroe 14-2, 16-2. May 6th 2008 - Monroe vs. Oak Harbor At Oak Harbor, Jordan Birch struck out 18 batters, Briar Stanley hit a grand slam home run in the second inning and Monroe scored eight runs in the first three innnings to roll to the Wesco North victory. Jessica Kallander batted 3-for-3 with a solo home run in the fourth inning to lead Oak Harbor. Final: Monroe-11, Oak Harbor-1 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 7 1 0 0 0 3 11 9 0 OHH 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 8 Birch and Stanely. Osborn and N. Mowbray. WP--Birch. LP--Osborn (0-9). 2B--Stanley (M). 3B-- Smith (M). HR-- Stanley (M), Kallander (O), Records--Monroe 13-2 league, 15-2 overall. Oak Harbor 1-14, 2-16. May 2nd 2008 - Monroe vs. Arlington Final: Monroe-6, Arlington-2 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 7 1 AHS 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 5 1 Amanda Lyon, Christina Rayner (5), Kristen Allen (6) and Emily Johnson; Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley. LP — Lyon. Arlington highlights — Kristen Allen, 1-3, RBI; Kaylie Basher, 1-3, RBI. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, 3B, 14 Ks, 0 BBs; Emily Guluarte, 1-3, 2 RBI, 2B; Haley McCutchan, 3-3, 2 RBI, 2B. Records — Arlington 9-9 (6-8), Monroe 14-2 (12-2). May 1st 2008 - Monroe vs. Marysville-Pilchuck Final: Monroe-0, Marysville-1 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 MPH 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 Riley Fritz and Courtney Perrine; Jordan Birch and Briar Stanley. WP — Fritz (7-2). LP — Birch (13-2). Marysville-Pilchuck highlights — Riley Fritz, 7 Ks; Marissa Lewis, game-winning run; Megan Rollings, 2B, game-winning RBI. Monroe highlights — Jordan Birch, 14 Ks. Records — Marysville-Pilchuck 7-7 (6-7), Monroe 13-2 (11-2). April 30th 2008 - Monroe vs. Cascade At Everett, Tessa Degel's one-out solo home run in the top of the seventh provided the only run Jordan Birch needed as the Bearcats clinched a 4A District 1 playoff berth with the victory. Birch allowed just one hit while striking out 16. Final: Monroe-1, Cascade-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 CHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Birch and Stanley. Rutter and Pilkenton. WP--Birch. LP--Rutter. HR-- Degel (M). Records--Monroe 11-1 league, 13-1 overall. Cascade 7-6, 9-7. April 24th 2008 - Monroe vs. Meadowdale Final: Monroe-12, Meadowdale-2 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 3 0 2 3 0 4 - 12 13 0 MHS 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 2 3 3 Hannah Strumpfer, Megan McKinney (5) and Briar Stanley; Laura Shanks and Jennifer Zenger. WP — Strumpfer. LP — Shanks. Monroe highlights — Tessa Degel, 3-3, 3 runs; Emily Guluarte, 2-3, 2B; Haley McCutchan, 3-4, 3B; Briar Stanley, 3 runs. Meadowdale highlights — Alyse Wynar, 2-3, run, RBI, 3B. Records — Monroe 12-1 (10-1), Meadowdale 0-13 (0-10). April 22nd 2008 - Monroe vs. Lake Stevens At Lake Stevens, Haley McCutchan hit a two RBI double to lead Monroe to the Wesco North victory over Lake Stevens. Lake Stevens pitcher Lindsey Walter struck out eight and Monroe pitcher Jordan Birch had seven strikeouts. Final: Monroe-3, Lake Stevens-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 2 0 LSH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Birch and Stanley. Walter and Brewer. WP--Birch. LP--Walter. 2B--McCutchan. 3B--none. HR--none. Records--Monroe 10-1 league, 11-1 overall. Lake Stevens 2-7, 3-8. April 21st 2008 - Monroe vs. Stanwood At Monroe, Jordan Birch of Monroe gave up just two hits in the Wesco North complete game shutout. She struck out eight and walked just one while earning her tenth win of the season. Final: Monroe-1, Stanwood-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 1 SHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Jeans and Bingham. Birch and Stanley. WP--Birch (10-1). LP--Jeans (5-2). 2B--McCoy (S) 1, Faulds (M) 1. Records--Stanwood 4-5 league, 6-5 overall. Monroe 9-1, 10-1. April 15th 2008 - Monroe vs. Snohomish At Snohomish, Jordan Faulds singled and scored the game's only run and Jordan Birch struck out 13 batters while allowing just one hit as the Bearcats beat the Panthers in the Wesco North contest. Final: Monroe-1, Snohomish-0 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E MHS 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 SHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 Birch and Stanley. Kash and Gilhang. WP--Birch. LP--Gilhang. Records--Monroe 7-1 league, 8-1 overall. Snohomish 2-3, 3-3.