ARLINGTON — The top four or five teams in Wesco North softball have been battling it out, but with a big win over Snohomish, the Arlington girls are one win away from locking up the league’s No. 2 seed into the district tournament.

Snohomish managed a couple of big hits in the May 8 game in Arlington but led by the pitching of senior Christina Rayner, the Eagle defense shut out the Panthers 1-0 and bounced back from a 1-0 game that went the other way against Cascade the day before.

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In the second and third innings, Snohomish batters slugged one-out triples into the Arlington outfield, but both times the Eagles were able end the inning with the runners on base. Rayner struck out five in those two innings, sophomore Kalie Basher snagging a fly ball in left field for the sixth out.

Combining a walk and a hit, Arlington put runners on base in the first two innings but didn’t score their run until the fourth when second baseman Amanda Lyon singled to left field and stole second, setting up Rayner’s RBI single two batters later.

Snohomish threatened to even things in the sixth inning, getting on base once on an error and again on a single, but Lyon’s defense helped back up the team’s efforts, catching a fly ball for one out and getting into the dirt for a third out at first base.

“I always wish you’d let them hit the ball so I can make a diving play,” Lyon half-joked to Rayner, who struck out 12, after the game.

Rayner chimed in with praise for her teammates as well, adding of the Panthers’ big hits, “I see a hit and it’s just panic for a second. But then I know who’s behind me. It’s a comfort zone.”

Needing just one win from their games against Monroe, Oak Harbor and Lake Stevens in consecutive days, Arlington is leading for the second seed out of Wesco North for the district softball tournament at Sky River Park in Monroe. They trail undefeated Stanwood in league.

“It’s our goal to go undefeated the rest of the season,” Rayner said.

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