By EZRA LACINA

Last week was a mellow week for the Pirate fast-pitch softball, which played only one game and lost.

The Pirates welcomed Bellevue Christian to The Rock on Tuesday, May 6. Vashon destroyed the team in their first meeting of the year, but Bellevue came prepared this time, winning 4-1.

Katie Rippel pitched for Bellevue Christian, and she had Vashon’s number, holding them scoreless until the seventh inning. Along with keeping the Pirates off the board, she struck out 10 batters in the outing.

Despite looking flat statistically, the Pirates had a lot of quality at bats. Many of the outs recorded came on hard-hit balls that just weren’t falling for Vashon. Senior Vashon pitcher Gabby Frazier had a very good game going, recording a perfect game through the fourth, but in the fifth, the bottom fell out when Bellevue Christian scored three runs in one inning.

With Vashon still scoreless, this put the Pirates in a very tough position. Vashon put together the beginning of a rally in the seventh with sophomore Mallory Breen starting things off with a single, followed by another single by sophomore Selena Biro. A passed ball allowed both runners to advance with freshman Hannah McArthur up to bat. McArthur hit a single to score Breen, but that was the only run the Pirates would score as they fell 4-1.

Vashon has three league games left and needs to win them to have a shot at playoffs, something that hasn’t happened in years for this program.

— Ezra Lacina is the sports editor for The Riptide.