The Everett women's fastpitch squad fought hard to make it to the NWAACC tournament this season, but was sent home early after a 1-2 tournament record.

The Trojans made the NWAACC tournament after securing the fourth seed in the NWAACC North Division with a league record of 16-8.

The top four teams from each division make it into the tournament, so being the fourth seed the Trojans were matched up with Lower Columbia Community College who were 18-2 in the NWAACC South Division and 37-7 overall.

Not only was Lower Columbia a number one seed, but they were also the three-time defending NWAACC champions and had won 10 of the previous 15 NWAACC championships.

Everett drew first blood with a Megan Stepro hit that drove in Kristian Sherriff to give he Trojans a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

The Trojans sent freshman ace Kally Behan to the mound that held Lower Columbia in check through three innings with the score at 1-1, but it wouldn't last.

Lower Columbia Community College exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the fourth, which were capped off by a grand slam from the Lower Columbia outfielder Anna Owen.

"We had solid defense and we were working the pitcher pretty well," said freshman first-baseman Liz Jusko. " We just needed more runners to get on base to score.

The Trojans were unable to answer in the top of the fifth, ending the game due to the mercy rule.

"I think that our offense was pretty solid and we jumped on the pitcher pretty fast," freshman catcher Chrissy Atterson said. "We looked confident at the plate and our defense was solid."

The Trojans got another chance in the loser's bracket where they matched up with the number two seed from the West Division Centralia.

Everett's freshman pitcher Sydney Mahan took the mound, pitching a complete game shutout, striking out six batters and only giving up 3 hits in the Trojans 8-0 win.

The Trojans tallied 12 hits including a three hit performance from freshman second team All-North outfielder Alyse Wynar who also collected a run, three RBI's and a stolen base.

Great performances from both the hitting and pitching led to the game being called after five innings due to another mercy rule, and was the fifth NWAACC tournament win in the team's history.

The win advanced the Trojans to a matchup with Southwestern Oregon Community College, which meant they were five games closer to the championship game.

Behen was given the start again and struggled to get outs in the first two innings of play with the score at 5-0.

The Trojans bounced back with a score of their own in the bottom of the fourth, but would not produce more than that and were sent home early in the 6-1 loss.

To give the Trojans credit, Lower Columbia went on to lose to the tournament champion 1-0 and again to Southwestern Oregon Community College, and Southwestern Oregon Community College lost its final game to tournament runner-up Walla Walla.

Almost the entire team will be back again next season except for first team All-North designated hitter Nena Slocum, and outfielder Natalie Matinoviv.

Included on this team's list of talented freshmen includes this season's first team All-North second-baseman Ally Pappas who had an incredible .413 batting average and 121 runs scored on the season.

The team will also bring back second team All-North division first baseman Liz Jusko who was fifth in NWAACC with 51 RBIs and compiled a .345 batting average.

Jusko and Pappas are not the only freshmen who put up an award winning season this year for the Trojans with Kristina Sherriff, Annie Collins, Alyse Wynar, Megan Stepro and Joleen Monfiletto also making the second team All-North division this year.

This could be a scary team next year with all of these phenomenal freshmen coming in with a year of experience, a year that took them all the way to the NWAACC tournament.