LAKEWOOD — The Lakewood Cougars softball team demolished Archbishop Murphy High School twice last week in a Cascade Conference doubleheader on Wednesday, April 18.

The Wildcats were unable to score even a single run during the day’s first game, thanks to the perfect pitching of Cougars’ Jennaka Larson.

“She was the winning pitcher in the first game of our doubleheader with Archbishop Murphy High School,” said Lakewood Softball Head Coach Steve Barker. The game started off with an impressive seven runs scored in the first inning alone. With that kind of lead off, the Wildcats really struggled to make any sort of comeback for the duration of the first game. Each of the Lakewood players was able to bring consistent skill and solid batting to score.

“Kiana Smith had two hits, Arianna Barrio scored three runs, Mikayla Holmes had three RBI and Terah Barrio hit a home run,” said Barker. Arianna Barrio hit a double and stole two bases during the game. Larson’s solid pitching left her with a number of Wildcat strikeouts and kept Archbishop Murphy from scoring even a single run. The Cougars went on to win 12-0 in their first game.

The second game proved to be just as much of a success for the Cougars fastpitch team as the first. With Hailey Malakowski as the winning pitcher for the doubleheader’s second game, Lakewood kept their offense strong once again.

“We scored seven runs in the fourth inning and won 13-2,” said Barker. “Maddie Holmes and Jenny Apker each had three hits to lead the offense.” With Holmes and Apker both 3-3, a fifth-inning home-run from the Wildcats didn’t manage to turn the tides in their favor.

The Cougars lost their third game this season in an exciting match-up against Granite Falls High School on April 20. The Granite Falls Tigers are the first-ranked team in their division but the Cougars certainly put up a fight. They continued their solid offense, with Kiana Smith and Arianna Barrio each hitting a triple. The game was level up until the fifth inning when a Tigers player, Taylor Manino, hit an RBI single to pull the Granite Falls team into the lead over the Cougars.

The team heads now to battle South Whidbey High School in a home game on April 26. The last time Lakewood faced up against the South Whidbey Falcons on April 6, Kiana Smith and Alexa Chase brought it in with back-to-back home runs.

Following the Falcons game, the Cougars head to the island to play an away game against Coupeville High School on April 30 — an opponent they pummeled  with a 10-4 victory on April 10. South Whidbey and Coupeville high school teams rank fourth and fifth in the league, with records of 6-6 and 5-8 respectively. Cougar softball ranks third in the league with an 8-3 season record as of April 23.