Baseball

EVERETT — Marysville-Pilchuck is going to state, but Arlington will have to work harder if it wants to do the same.

M-P qualified for state and the Class 3A Northwest District Championship Saturday by beating Meadowdale 9-1 Tuesday.

The Eagles will have to make their way through the loser’s bracket after being shut out 3-0 by Edmonds-Woodway Tuesday.

M-P, 18-4, will play E-W for the title.

M-P qualified for state for the first time since 2009 after falling one win short of it the past four years. The Tommies ripped 13 hits and won their 10th-straight game.

“This year, I think we really came together as a team as a whole,” winning pitcher Eric Anderson told The Herald. “We’re more than just teammates. We’re brothers, we’re friends, we’re family.”

Anderson struck out nine and walked two.

“Holy cow,” M-P coach James Day said of his ace’s outing. “It’s been like that since day one. He’s been the horse that we’ve all been riding. … He pounds the zone (and) does everything that we need him to do.”

M-P put the game away in the fourth inning. Sophomore Jordan Justice hit a triple to the centerfield fence, then scored Trevor Anderson’s single. Mark Bielawski followed with a double, Coby Nelson lined a run-scoring single and Kee-An Ballard launched a high-arcing double off the leftfield wall.

Nelson then scored on a wild pitch, and Jordan Luton grounded a run-scoring single into leftfield to give the Tomahawks a 6-1 lead.

Justice added a three-run homer in the sixth inning, ripping a pitch over the high leftfield fence to make it 9-1. “He’s worked so hard in the cage, as with all my guys,” Day said.

Colby Phelps chipped in three hits.

“We’ve got guys in the lineup — one through nine — that just smash the ball,” Anderson said. “And obviously that showed tonight.”

In Arlington’s game, Eagle pitcher Cameron Smith threw a no-hitter through five innings. But in the sixth, two bunt singles, an error and a sacrifice fly gave E-W the only run it needed. It added two more, though, in the seventh after a hit batter, a double, two walks and a wild pitch.

The Eagles hurt themselves stranding eight base runners. They loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with two outs but a pop-up ended the game.

The loss ended Arlington’s 19-game winning streak. Arlington, 20-2, will have to win two games to earn its third-straight state berth. It will need to beat Shorewood today at 4 p.m.

In first-round games Saturday, Michael Tsoukalas hit a three-run double in the third inning, and Owen Bishop delivered five scoreless innings on the mound to lead Arlington to a 4-2 win over visiting Lynnwood.

Gavin Rork came up with a big defensive play for the Eagles in the top of the fourth inning, making a diving catch deep in right-center field to prevent a run. Another big defensively play came when Bishop caught a sacrifice bunt in the air and doubled off a runner at first.

Chase Lindsey had the only other hits for the Eagles going 2-2 scoring a run and knocking one in, too.

In another tournament game, M-P defeated visiting Shorewood 9-0.

Soccer

MARYSVILLE – In soccer, M-P stayed alive in the playoffs with a 2-0 win over Shorewood Tuesday.

Senior Nain Galvan’s first-half goal came during a scrum in front of the Thunderbirds’ net, launching a header past the goalie.

M-P’s offense continued to put pressure on the Shorewood defense in the second half. Daniel Valadez added an insurance goal, while goalies Blake Finsen and Eric Ibanez combined for the shutout.

M-P is in the loser’s bracket after being shutout by Lynnwood Saturday 1-0.

Softball

In softball Tuesday, M-P blanked Oak Harbor 15-0, Everett shut out Arlington 14-0 and Snohomish improved to 15-2 with a 10-0 win over Marysville Getchell.

Also, Lakewood beat Nooksack Valley 8-3.

Last week, McKenzie Justice tossed a 2-hitter as M-P blanked MG 11-0. The Chargers were also hurt by 5 errors.

M-P improved to 13-2, while MG dropped to 5-8.Justice also stood out at the plate going 2-4 with a triple and a double. Teammate Kelsey Campbell went 3-4 with a triple.

Tennis

MARYSVILLE – The No. 2 doubles team of Dana and Taylor Bichel won a nail-biter to pick up Marysville-Pilchuck’s only win in a match against Snohomish recently.

They lost the first game 7-5 then won the second by that same score before eking out a 10-8 victory in the tiebreaker.

In M-P’s other matches, Paige Bramer was blanked, Cheyenne Coe won a game, Athena Rondeau won two games and Katie Stuart took seven. In doubles, Hayley Dixon-Mariah Prater were skunked and Taylor Martin—Joslynn Scharpp took one game.

Also, M-P was blanked by Everett. Bramer again did not win a game, Coe won three, Kristina Gret won six and Stuart won two. In doubles, Dixon-Prater took five games, the Bichels lost 2-6, 6-4, 2-10 in another tiebreaker, and Martin-Scharpp won seven games.