Sea-King 3A Fastpitch | Minice wields strong bat, too

By George Edgar

Special to The Seattle Times

May 17, 2007

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Sarah Minice homered in both Totems games.

 

TUKWILA — Everyone knew Sammamish's Sarah Minice could pitch. Thursday at the Sea-King 3A District softball tournament, she showed the Holy Names Cougars she could hit as well.

The senior pitcher drilled a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning, then completed a no-hitter as the Totems blanked Holy Names 4-0 in a quarterfinal game at Starfire Sports Complex.

The victory qualified the Totems (17-3) for the Class 3A state tournament next weekend in Tacoma.

In the district semifinals at noon today, Sammamish plays KingCo 3A rival Liberty (19-5) and Bainbridge (18-5) faces Metro League rival Bishop Blanchet (19-3). All four qualified for state.

Holy Names (19-4) plays Newport in a loser-out game today at noon.

The top five teams in the district will advance to state.

Minice came to bat against Holy Names with two outs, Tina Jacobson and Kelsey Hasselblad on base, and the Totems clinging to a 1-0 lead. She smacked her home run over the left-center-field fence and was mobbed by teammates when she crossed the plate.

It was her second home run of the day. Minice hit one in the Totems' five-inning, 10-0 shutout of Nathan Hale in the first round. She combined with Tina Jacobson to throw a one-hitter against the Raiders.

"I never expected to be a home-run hitter," Minice said. "But my bat's been coming alive. I decided to focus more on my hitting this year. I've been focusing on my pitching in previous years, but to get it done this year, I focused more on my hitting."

Minice, who will play at Division 1 Fairfield University in Connecticut next season, struck out 11 in her no-hitter.

"Fairfield got a good deal when they signed her up," said Sammamish coach Mike Eckhart.

Sammamish 4 vs. Holy Names 0

 

 

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Highlights

Sarah Minice and Kelsey Hasselblad; Farleigh Winters and Brittany Wintersole. WP — Minice. LP — Winters. Sammamish highlights — Sarah Minice, 3 RBI, HR, 7 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 11 Ks. Records — Sammamish 17-3, Holy Names 19-4.