The Orcas softball team rolled over two teams in three games of play like a squad set with its eyes on the prize.

On Monday, against the leading district scorer, the Lady Vikings beat the La Conner Lady Braves 5-4, who were up to that point undefeated, in seven innings.

Against La Conner, Orcas went into the bottom of the 4th inning down by two runs, and then Alison O’Toole led off with a bunt to first base. Lanie Padbury stepped out and hit a first pitch home run and nailed it, scoring two runs.

“It was a monster of a shot. It’s the farthest I’ve ever seen a ball hit in that field,” Coach Scott Harris said.

Later in that inning, Bodenhammer got herself on base from four balls. She stole two bases, and then Bobbie Lowry got her home with a sacrifice bunt. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Mackie Taylor hit a hard single to score Padbury in over home plate, and then that tied the game. The Lady Vikings got up in the bottom of the seventh and at the end of the batting order, Brooke Bruland, Adria Garcia, and Lindsey Anderson loaded the bases. Padbury stepped up, and with two strikes and two outs against the Lady Vikings, hit a clutch single to score in the winning run.

Later in the week, the Lady Vikings played Darrington at Darrington in a double header and won the first game 12-3 and shut out Darrington completely 5-0 in the second game.

“With Darrington,” Harris said, “both of our pitchers had great games. Garcia had nine strikeouts and then Lowry had nine strikeouts as well. She had a stupendous pitching run.”

Halley Parnell went three for four at the plate and Sydney Harris went three for four as well with a double. Padbury had a two run home run while Mackie Taylor went three for four.

Then, to prepare for district play and to really put their skills to the test, the Lady Vikings travelled to Adna, Wash., to play against the best team in the state.

“They are the juggernaut of the softball world. The Adna Lady Pirates were second in state last year with the best pitcher in the state. They are regularly one of the top three teams in the state at any level,” Harris said.

The Lady Vikings lost 14-0 and held their own up to the third inning, when errors cost them runs and their concentration.

“We wanted to be exposed to championship-level playing and it was fun and we learned a lot. It did get rough around the third inning. We had runners on bases, and that is a big success.”

The Lady Vikings had one game left of regular play on Tuesday, May 12, against La Conner, at La Conner. It was their last league game. After that, the Orcas Lady Vikings will know their standings in the tri-district tournament which starts May 19. The results were unavailable before press deadline. Tri-districts open for the Lady Vikings with a home game.