The final score wasn’t indicative of the Eastlake Wolves girls softball team’s performance against the Woodinville Falcons.

Woodinville registered an 8-0 victory against Eastlake on March 30 in Sammamish behind the gritty pitching performance of ace pitcher Lauryn Rhinehart. Rhinehart, who pitched a complete-game gem, allowed just four hits and no runs in seven innings of work. Rhinehart struck out six Eastlake batters in the game.

“Lauryn is a go-getter. When a pitch is called she just executes and has the ability to get the job done. Her strength is that she is able to put the ball where it needs to go,” Woodinville head coach Dani Weir said.

The Wolves (2-2) kept the game close for the majority of the afternoon. Woodinville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on Kathryn Hatlen’s sacrifice fly ball to right field, scoring Sklar Hain from third base. The Falcons extended their lead to 2-0 when Alyssa O’Farrell blasted a sole home-run over the left field fence in the top of the fifth. Woodinville put the game out of reach in the top of the sixth, tacking on six more runs to extend the lead to 8-0. Eastlake pitcher Julie Graf suffered the loss against Woodinville in the pitching circle but had a solid game nonetheless. Graf allowed just three hits in the first five innings of the game.

“I thought Julie Graf pitched well and did her job. They just hit the ball better than us today,” Eastlake head coach Stephanie Fox said.

Woodinville pounded out a total of nine hits while Eastlake managed just four. The Wolves didn’t record their first hit until the bottom of the fifth. Fox said Rhinehart was the real deal.

“I tip my hat to them. (Rhinehart) is a really good pitcher,” Fox said. “We just have to keep working hard, move on to the next game and get better.”

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com