Claiming an early lead and pulling away with five runs in the third inning, the Interlake Saints defeated Mercer Island 11-5 Wednesday at Interlake High School.

Mercer Island (5-11, 5-9 in KingCo) trailed Interlake (5-10, 5-8) 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third when the Saints pulled away. Interlake scored twice off of Mercer Island errors and got a 2-RBI single from Avery Alexander during the stretch.

The Islanders answered with four runs in the top of the fourth, but wouldn’t score again the rest of the way, while the Saints extended their advantage with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Angelina Barokas went 3-for-4 at the plate for Mercer Island, while Kayla Varney and Jessica Ramseyer each drove in two runs for the Islanders. Alexander, Shaefer Davis and Courtney Johnson each batted in two runs for the Saints.

Next up, Mercer Island takes on first-place Lake Washington (13-2, 13-0) at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Lake Washington High School.