Going into its final regular season game of the 2015 season, the Mountlake Terrace softball team needed a win over Shorewood Tuesday to keep its postseason hopes alive.

Those hopes were bleak midway through the ballgame when the Hawks found themselves down 6-1. But some smart baserunning and sure-handed defense turned their fortunes around.

The Hawks defeated Shorewood 7-6 at Meridian Park in Shoreline and will now wait for the results of Wednesday’s Edmonds-Woodway-Lynnwood game to learn if and when they will play again this year.

Mountlake Terrace’s regular season finale against the T-Birds was a nail-biter as the Hawks scored three runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to erase a five-run deficit and steal a win on the road; all six runs that the Hawkstallied in their comeback were scored with two outs.

“We like to keep things exciting,” joked coach Shannon Rasmussen.

In the decisive sixth inning, Hawk Lauren Miller cut the Shorewood lead to 6-5 when she scored off a Gabby Calhoun single. Hannah Wilcox followed with a sharply-hit ground ball that T-Bird shortstop Ebony Harrison mishandled, allowing Kira Doan to score from third base. Calhoun, who had been on second, took a wide turn at third, hesitated halfway down the third base line, then dashed home and slid under the attempted tag of T-Bird catcher Lauren Smith to score the go-ahead run.

Rasmussen, who also coaches along the third base line, was dumbfounded but relieved by Calhoun’s heady baserunning. “I’m not really sure what happened,” said Rasmussen. “I was yelling ‘go, go ,go’ to the runner that was going home (Doan) and then yelling at her (Calhoun) to ‘take a look,’ and before I knew it the next thing I saw she was halfway to home plate and kind of just looking back and forth. All of a sudden she was gone and they weren’t paying attention.”

Athough the ball had never left the infield, Calhoun scored the go-ahead run from second base on the play.

After the game Calhoun admitted that she heard her coach say ‘take a look,’ but ultimately the decision was hers to attempt to score on the play.

“She took a very good look halfway down there,” laughed Rasmussen. “And once you’re halfway down there you might as well take that chance to get thrown out at home than to get thrown out at third. I glad it worked out in our favor.”

Mountlake Terrace had started their comeback by scoring their three runs in the previous inning off of doubles by Doan and Ashley Fitzgerald, and an RBI single by Jazz Zenk.

After falling behind 6-1 early on, it was the Mountlake Terrace defense that kept Shorewood from running away beyond reach of a comeback. “Our defense was great today,” Rasmussen said. “Other than our walks with our pitchers, I thought everything was great.”

That defensive effort including a rare 4-2-6 double play turned in by the Hawks in the fourth inning after Shorewood had loaded the bases with no one out. Doan, who had stepped to the mound in relief of Mountlake Terrace starter Sammy Ruiz, did give up two bases-loaded walks, but the double play and subsequent fly out to centerfielder Sammy Harter kept Shorewood from scoring more runs and ended the inning.

The Hawks still have hopes of landing the No. 8 seed into the District 1 3A softball tournament next week, but must wait for Wednesday’s final day of Wesco 3A play to see where they land in the standings.

– By Doug Petrowski

Prep Softball: Mountlake Terrace at Shorewood

Terrace           1  0  0    0  3  3    0    —    7   7   2
Shorewood      2  0  2    2  0  0    0    —    6   5   3

Winning pitcher: Kira Doan (MTHS)
Losing pitcher:  (Shorewood)

Records: Mountlake Terrace 10-8 in Wesco 3A South, 11-9 overall; Shorewood 5-13, 7-13

Mountlake Terrace next game: to be determined