Savina Wells whiffed 13 batters in All-Star little league action Tuesday night. (Katy Wells photo)
Savina Wells is the Smiling Assassin.
There is rarely a moment on the softball diamond when she isn’t grinning, bopping along to the between-batters music or looking like she is having the greatest time any player has ever had in the history of the sport.
Her fresh ‘n fun attitude keeps her Central Whidbey Little League Minors teammates loose, and the high, hard cheese she hurls from the pitcher’s circle keeps rival batters swinging at empty air.
Perfectly synced up with her Yellow Jackets catcher, Maddie “Mad Dog” Georges, the flame-throwin’ Wells whiffed 13 Sedro-Woolley hitters Tuesday night at Rhododendron Park.
And while a few bobbled balls cost Central Whidbey, as it fell 7-4 to the visitors, the Yellow Jackets emerged still looking very much like winners.
They’ll need to win back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday (6 PM back at Rhodie) to claim the District 11 championship and punch their ticket to the state tourney in Montesano.
Which is very much in the realm of possibility.
Wells was driving the K-express Tuesday, with eight of her first nine outs coming via punch-outs.
The few times she let her defense get in on the action they acquitted themselves nicely.
Allie Lucero gobbled up grounders at first, while Emma Hargrave pulled off a nice play while fielding a ball deep in the hole between second and first.
Lucero also got the crowd on their feet with her bat, lashing a pair of singles.
The moment which got the biggest reaction, though, came when she absolutely crushed a foul ball that ripped right over the fence along the third-base line like a laser, nailing a fan in the shoulder.
If she had straightened that swing out, Lucero would have been looking at a two-bagger, at the very least.
Instead, she sent a warning to the public at general — I will find you and I will hurt you.
Her endorsement line of autographed ice bags coming soon to a concession stand near you.
After a brief bout of miscommunication by Central Whidbey (no one covered home on a play at the plate) staked Sedro to a 1-0 lead, the Yellow Jackets reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the first.
Staging a two-out rally, Central used a single from Wells, a walk to Lucero and a beautifully-placed bloop single into center-field off the bat of Alena Osborne to plate a pair.
Sedro chipped its way back to a 4-2 lead, despite getting only one hit in the first three innings.
The visitors used a couple of walks and a couple of Yellow Jacket errors to get things going, but Wells refused to break.
At one point she even roared back from a 3-0 count to collect yet another strike-out. That earned an even bigger grin than normal and an extra skip in her step as she charged off the field.
Central Whidbey looked like it was going to have its own breakout in the bottom of the fourth.
Lucero led off with one of her two hits, Osbourne and Sofie Peters reached on errors and things were humming.
With the score trimmed to 4-3 after Lucero scampered home on a delayed steal, the Yellow Jackets were sitting with runners at second and third and nobody out.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the bottom third of the order went down one-two-three to end the brief rally.
Sedro stretched the lead out with two more in the fifth, but Central got out of the inning thanks to Wells dropping another pair of strike-outs before the rival third-base coach was flagged for coach’s interference.
The Yellow Jackets final rally came in the fifth, with Gwen Gustafson wearing a pitch before Wells and Lucero smashed singles.
Smart defensive plays saved the visitors, though, as Sedro gunned down a Central runner at the plate and saw its first-baseman come flying in from the side to snag a high, arcing foul pop-up.
After losing only once in the regular season, the Yellow Jackets faced its toughest competition yet with the onset of All-Star play.
Joining Georges, Gustafson, Wells, Lucero, Osbourne, Peters and Hargrave for postseason play are Chloe Marzocca, Allison Nastali, Vivian Farris, Hope Sinclair and Mia Farris.
