Kya Aldrich was perfect on Monday, July 11, at Everest Park.
In the circle for the Kirkland 9-10 All-Star softball team, Aldrich struck out 16 of 18 batters with no walks and no errors — a perfect game — as Kirkland beat Redmond 1-0 in the District 9 title game.
Redmond put two balls in play, both easy groundouts: one to Ashlyn Cook at first base and another to Ava Warner at second base.
Aldrich was rarely in trouble, relying on speed and power to solidify Kirkland’s bid for the state tournament.
Kirkland 9/10 pitcher Kya Aldrich out 16 of 18 batters for a perfect game in the District 9 final vs. Redmond. pic.twitter.com/MBlDxAcDkE
— John William Howard (@JowardHoward) July 12, 2016
When asked if the perfect game was a big accomplishment, Aldrich had to look to the friends and family around her for confirmation — yes.
Kirkland 9-10 softball coach, Chris Cook, wasn’t surprised.
“I’ve seen her do it in regular season, but she doesn’t pitch all six innings in regular season,” Cook said. “You only pitch two or three innings, and then someone else will come in.”
And while Aldrich carried the load in the final, Kirkland had to rely on the entire roster.
“You have your core players that will stack up against anybody, but it’s everybody else that you don’t know how they’re going to pick it up,” Cook said. “Our girls picked it up awesome. They did great.”
Kirkland blew through the tournament, which began with a 28-0 win over Falls on July 6. Kirkland edged Sammamish on July 7, then beat Snohomish Valley-North in the semifinals on July 9.
The Kirkland squad grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Makenzie Reynolds hit a grounder into the infield and was picked off at first, but not before scoring Christina Minor from third base. Kirkland batters drew two walks from full-count situations in the first inning before scoring.
From there, the pressure was on Aldrich.
“Usually softball games don’t go one run in the first inning and then that’s it for the rest of the game,” Cook said. “Softball, you can get some runs in games. Our first game was 28-0, and there have been games in this tournament in the 30s. It’s usually high-scoring. It just tells you what kind of pitching there was on both sides.”
Now, Kirkland is scheduled to open the state tournament against Glenwood at 11 a.m. on July 16 at Stan Hedwall Field in Chehalis. Aldrich, who said her select softball team finished second at state last year, had a clear goal in front of her.
“I want to win state,” she said. “It’d be really cool. I want to be number one. We always get second place, and I want to be number one.”
