One Spot Away from Final Playoff Spot

The 2019 EvCC Softball season officially came to an end Sunday night when the final NWAC RPI rankings were calculated and had the Trojans at #17, less than two thousandths of a decimal point behind Skagit Valley College at #16 (a team that EvCC beat 3 out of 4 meetings) for the final playoff spot. 

Everett went into the final series of the regular season against Olympic (ranked #11 in the RPI) needing to win at least one of the two games to have a legitimate chance at moving up inside the top 16 ranked teams.  Game one of the Saturday doubleheader was never close as Olympic put up 7 runs in the bottom of the first inning, and then proceeded to add 3 runs in the second, 1 in the third, and 2 in the fourth en route to a 13-0 victory in 5 innings.  The Everett offense was uncharacteristically collared to make matters worse, coming up with only two hits and striking out 7 times at the plate. 

Despite not getting through the first inning in Game One, Cathy Zaragoza got the start in Game Two but looked to be much more settled in this go around.   Olympic scored a run in the bottom of the first, but after that were held scoreless through the next three innings.  The Everett offense was held scoreless as well until the top of the 5th when the Trojans drove in 3 runs. Ciara Harding came up with a big 2-run double, and Cassidy Conrad rounded out the inning with a single, scoring Harding from 2nd and giving EvCC a 3-1 lead.  The Rangers responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the 5th cutting the lead to one, and then came up with a big three runs in the 6th to reclaim the lead at 5-3 and eventually held on for the win.  

Though the Trojans will miss the playoffs in 2019, this all freshman team has plenty of upside for next season.  Megan Parsley finished the season with a .472 batting average (11th in the NWAC), 21 doubles (3rd in the NWAC), 12 home runs (20th in the NWAC) and had a .937 slugging percentage (12th in the NWAC).  Alyson Roberson made a number of excellent defensive plays in the outfield and tested infielders all season long with her speed leading the team with 8 stolen bases, legging out a number of infield singles, and also led the team with 3 triples while boasting a .358 batting average (2nd highest on the team).  Lizzy Dillard also improved steadily throughout the season batting .348 with 30 RBI's (2nd on the team), 10 doubles (2nd on the team), and 5 home runs (2nd on the team).