Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 261 - Top 50 Fastpitch 30-11

Transcript

Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 261 - Top 50 Fastpitch 30-11 · Whatcom Preps Podcast

0:00
This is Lyndon Shortstop Melanie Anderson, and you're listening to the Top fifty Fast
0:04
Pitch Countdown with Tyler and Ryland. Go Lions, Greetings and welcome into the
0:26
watcom Preps podcast. This episode two and sixty one, the second of three
0:31
podcasts we unveil the Fast Pitch Top fifty Countdown. I'm Ryland Spencer. Along
0:35
with me as always is Tyler Anderson of whatcum Preps. Tyler, how are
0:40
we doing? Doing? Awesome? Man? I'm looking outside and the weather
0:43
is really nice. Holy cow. I mean it's gonna get really warm these
0:48
next few days. And of course we're recording this on Wednesday and first day
0:52
of summer coming up and stuff like that. So uh, doing doing alright?
0:57
Doing alright? Yeah, it is a really nice day, so hey,
1:00
let's sit inside and record podcasts. That sounds like a great thing we
1:03
do. Yeah, it's a holiday today, so no school for me,
1:07
and I'm very happy to have a Wednesday off. People are probably going,
1:11
wait, what, no school? Yeah, we're still in school un till
1:14
Tuesday down here. But yeah, I know a lot of the schools up
1:18
that way are done or out or I know everybody's graduated. We graduated on
1:22
Monday. All four schools graduate at the at pop Kinney Stadium over a two
1:27
day period. So I tell you what, if I could have graduated at
1:30
pop Keeney Stadium, I might never have left. Tyler. We need to
1:34
give a thank you to Melanie Anderson Lyndon Junior. We are giving thanks to
1:41
in intros. Yes we do do that. If you listen to the last
1:44
podcast, you know that we forgot. Well I forgot, Tyler didn't forget.
1:49
But that being said, this podcast today we're counting down from thirty to
1:52
eleven, which means you can go back and listen to fifty down to thirty
1:57
one. We've also already done thirty down to eleven and fifty down to thirty
2:00
one for baseball, so be sure to go back listen to all of those.
2:05
Subscribe to the podcast wherever you can find podcasts. If you're listening to
2:08
this on the website, you can find at other places. There's all kinds
2:12
of stuff. It's pretty easy to find. If you can't find this podcast,
2:15
that's a u problem. Tyler. We need to give a thank you
2:17
to Kurt Mayberry Farm. They are a fourth generation, family owned and operated
2:23
Berry Farm committed to growing the highest quality berries, strawberries, blueberries, and
2:27
raspberries. You can find them online Kurt with a CMA be r ry farm
2:32
dot com. We also need to give a thank you to Man Insurance and
2:37
Line Drive Northwest. They were sponsors of scoreboards and weekly stat leaders during the
2:43
spring sports season, specifically for fast pitch, also Big Time. They've always
2:51
been big supporters of us, So thank you to those two. And then
2:54
Tyler District Brewing. We mentioned it on all three podcasts so far leading up
2:59
to this point. If you're hearing this on Sunday, Tyler might be there
3:04
right now twelve to twelve to two. You're like, you need to get
3:07
over there. If you're listening to this, going wait a minute, twelve
3:10
to two, it's eleven fifty out the door on your way, sixty nine
3:15
to twelve Hannigan Road on the northeast corner. Pull Hannigan right there. Go
3:23
find Tyler. We don't know, I don't know what he's watching. It's
3:27
gonna be something on the TV there, but food, all kinds of stuff
3:30
going on. If you want to just go over and bug Tyler, just
3:32
go over and bug him, like I give you permission to go bug Tyler,
3:38
go make him as uncomfortable as possible, because Tyler loves being uncomfortable.
3:44
Tyler. If somebody wants to reach out to you about potential sponsorship opportunities with
3:49
watcom Preps, how do they get a hold of you? Yeah, well,
3:52
thanks for the uncomfortable monologue there. If you look at my clothing,
3:57
you can tell I definitely like to be comfortable, yes, but yeah,
4:00
you can get a hold of me through social media is always the best way,
4:02
uh, through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Just send a message,
4:06
look up Walk the Preps, send a message, or find me at District
4:10
Brewing on Sundays from noon to two and just talk to me about it there
4:13
in person. Great point too, And didn't even think about that one.
4:15
Yeah, and uh so yeah, there's there's lots of opportunities there and and
4:21
even I mean I think if you go to the Facebook page where you look
4:28
up Walk the Preps, I think it even has my phone number there,
4:30
so you can just call me, text me whatever. We'll figure it out.
4:34
And we got it. We got a little bit of time. But
4:38
don't don't think to yourself, oh we got a little bit of time.
4:41
Yeah, we do, but it goes so fast and and things are gonna
4:43
get snatched up. You might want the football scoreboard, you might want the
4:47
offensive player of the week, you might want the volleyball scoreboard. But things
4:53
are gonna get you know, things are gonna get taken really really quickly.
4:57
And there was already a few things that are that have been taken. So
5:00
so step up and get what you want and we'll just and we'll go from
5:05
there. So you know, we'll figure it out whatever your whatever your budget
5:12
is, we'll figure something out and we'll make it happen and we'll just keep
5:14
this, keep this thing going as long as we can. Yeah, And
5:18
I mean that's that's what we need too write. I mean, Tyler,
5:23
for you to be able to do this, we got to have sponsors,
5:25
We got to have people stepping up and businesses stepping up. And I mean,
5:30
let's face it, between the podcasts, the social media stuff, the
5:32
people reading articles and stuff, they're getting plenty of opportunities for your business to
5:38
be promoted. So so yeah, reach out to Tyler, get it taken
5:43
care of. Other than that, Tyler, I think are we ready to
5:46
go here? I think so we've got twenty names to talk about here,
5:51
Tyler, And as I mentioned before, we are starting at number thirty because
5:55
you can go back and listen to the first twenty that we talked about.
5:58
So at number thirty, junior shortstop from the Seahome Mariners, it's Rebecca Peterson.
6:04
Yeah. The first thing that stood out to me watching her was her
6:08
defense. There was a lot of plays where again we talked about how it's
6:13
a small field and you have to react so quickly, and when she goes
6:15
to her right, she's so good at the backhand, and then getting a
6:19
throw on it where your eyes kind of open if you've never seen a player
6:24
like you know, I went into this. I mean, you talk about
6:27
Sea Home softball. When we did the preview I had I didn't know anything
6:30
that was the team. I didn't have a roster, I didn't have stats
6:33
from last year. I didn't have anything. So I kind of went in.
6:36
That's probably why I watched the most. I probably saw Sea Home a
6:41
lot, eight or nine times, and I wanted to get to know this
6:44
team, and so I kind of had it on the tip of my tongue.
6:46
I knew everything about them, and the first thing I noticed about them
6:49
was how good their defensive short stop was, and then and then she was
6:54
she was. She was batting lead off to begin the year, ended up
6:57
getting moved to like in the middle lineup four or five spots, stuff like
7:00
that, but really good, consistently hit her, good, consistent hit her
7:03
all the way through. Batted three twenty seven on the year, sixty seven
7:08
played appearances, only struck out five times, stole five bases, led the
7:13
team with two triples, also had three doubles, fifteen runs batted in,
7:16
so big time numbers offensively as well. See Hoom had a rough year this
7:23
year. There was just some overall defensive miscues, too many bases on balls,
7:29
stuff like that. But but not a team loaded with seniors. There's
7:33
a few really good ones that we will be talking about here shortly. But
7:39
it's going to be a team that that will progress better. And she's going
7:43
to be a big time leader being a senior next year. And it's a
7:47
small class that she's in. I think there's only three juniors on the team,
7:50
and she's the one that by far plays the most, so she'll be
7:54
really relied upon heavily next year. Number twenty nine in the top fifty count
8:00
down freshman, that left fielder and pitcher h school. It's Kara Welters.
8:07
Yeah, Cararal Welters. Cara Sorry, yeah, yeah, coach got me
8:11
all messed up over here. Yeah, hey, thanks coach. Left man,
8:16
great base runner. That was the first thing I saw with her,
8:20
was that really really fast, but really aggressive going from first to third,
8:24
kind of knowing the situation. Stuff like that. The only freshman on the
8:28
team, I don't I don't know if coach ever called her by her name.
8:33
It was usually rookie or rook and uh and and come on, rookie,
8:39
you know, make that player or whatever it was just and that became
8:41
the thing. I would, you know, call her that in the middle
8:43
of the hall at the school and uh, but what a phenomenal player.
8:48
Uh, I mean, that's a really good team. To break the starting
8:52
lineup as a freshman says a lot. And and she showed that she belonged
8:58
batted in the ninth spot. But I mean, she really could set the
9:01
table for the beginning of the lineup when she'd come back around, especially when
9:03
she got on base using that speed. And then all of a sudden,
9:07
you got some big time hitters come in right after her She hit three twenty
9:11
nine on the year from the ninth spot, with five doubles, nineteen RBIs,
9:16
six tolen bases. She had more walks and strikeouts. Really good defensively
9:22
too, and left field, I mean, covered a lot of ground and
9:26
had a good arm. But I would imagine that she's not going to play
9:30
too much in the outfield next year because she's going to be relied upon to
9:31
be the number one pitcher. She was a really good number two about Baker
9:37
has no problem switching pitchers in the middle if there's something they see that's maybe
9:41
off with the pitcher. They have no problem switching right in the middle of
9:45
an inning and then pitch for a couple innings and then then maybe switch back.
9:48
So I saw that more with them than any other team combined. Probably
9:52
where the starting pitcher would pitch, they'd bring in a reliever, and then
9:56
the starting pitcher would come back in and close out the game. And they
10:01
were able to do that because of her ability to play in the field and
10:03
then come in and fill a spot and then go back out. I mean,
10:07
she had some big time wins as she I think she picked up the
10:11
win against Royal and I you know Royal did they win at all? To
10:15
the second state? I mean, so there you go. I mean that
10:18
tells you all right right there. The talent that she has in the circle,
10:22
and she works on it a lot, she's going to be like relied
10:26
upon, you know, next the next three years to be the main the
10:30
main pitcher. They seem to have a lot of pictures on that team.
10:31
But she went five and one thirty six and two thirds innings and struck out
10:35
thirty eight only walk twenty three, so you know, you want to get
10:39
those walks down a little bit. But that's not too bad. And again,
10:43
offensively she's great. I could see her maybe maybe batting in the number
10:46
two hole next year. You never know. So big she's going to be
10:50
a major player of these next three years for Mount Baker. The crazy thing,
10:54
Tyler just I don't want to get too crazy here, but Royle was
10:58
in that opening round game they had to win just to basically get in right
11:01
and then they just got hot and they ended up winning the state championship sixteen
11:05
to four over Seaton Catholic. I mean, that's crazy. Seaton Catholic.
11:09
You know, they had that heartbreaking win over Mount Baker is a close game,
11:13
and that was a good team, so it tells me a lot about
11:16
Royal. Yeah, and they I'm pretty sure they were the WAA like one
11:20
A Team of the Month or something as well, like I remember seeing them
11:24
somewhere listed. But yeah, I mean, wow, freshman. It's crazy
11:28
because Tyler, we got three more to talk about freshman on this list today,
11:33
and even a sophomore and a couple of juniors. So some names that
11:37
we're probably going to be talking about for the next few years. We seems
11:39
like we say this every single time too. It's crazy. I know,
11:43
number twenty eight on the top fifty countdown senior shortstop from Blaine, Jordan Vezzetti.
11:50
Yeah, major pop in the back. Great great athlete. You know,
11:54
saw her do some amazing things on the basketball court, you know,
11:58
racking up thirty points in a game. I mean there was a game I
12:01
think where the team scored like forty three and she had like thirty one of
12:05
the points on the basketball team, so she could fill it up there.
12:09
Plays volleyball as well, another one of those three sport athletes. But you
12:13
know, fast pitch, you know, start of the year, bat in
12:16
the cleanup spot, and had a few you know, had a little bit
12:20
of a slump at one point, got moved down a little bit, but
12:22
always stayed in the middle of that lineup, you know, four or five,
12:26
maybe six every once in a while, but kind of right in the
12:28
middle of lineup. But a threat every time she came up to bat.
12:33
I mean you could see the outfielders back up and and she would just she
12:39
could just crush the ball. She hit four home runs on the year and
12:41
two triples, batted two ninety four, got hit by pitch five times,
12:46
and and yeah, I just you know, the extra base threat was always
12:52
there. The home run threat was always there. She ended up leading the
12:56
team in home runs with with with four. I think that, you know,
13:01
the swing and miss was there a little too much, and you know,
13:07
and but that's happened sometimes with power hitters. We talked about that with
13:11
with you know, talking about Reggie Jackson and Jim Tomay and jose Can Saco
13:15
and all these you know, you know, traditional power hitters. The strikeouts
13:18
are going to be there sometimes. But also played a really good shortstop,
13:20
was there. I think she could have played shortstop every inning of every game.
13:26
There might have been some blowout games where she took a break or got
13:28
moved to a different position to get some younger kids some play. But she
13:31
was the everyday shortstop and did a really great job at it. Number twenty
13:37
seven on the top fifty countdown senior center fielder from the Sea Home at Mariners.
13:41
It's Peyton Huntley. Yeah, left handed batter, and you see those
13:46
left handed slap hitters, you know, on the on in fast pitch,
13:50
and and she didn't do it too much. She had to have. She
13:54
probably stands five one maybe and that might be being you know, Jeff interest.
14:00
So it's a small strikesound and she knows how to use it. She
14:03
gets on base, she can walk a lot, and then she will just
14:09
terrorize the bass paths. Led the team with fourteen stolen bases, led the
14:13
team with eighteen walks. Again, with that combination, she's gonna get on
14:16
base quite a bit, and then it covers a lot of ground in center
14:20
field, not a threat for extra bases. All seventeen hits were all singles,
14:24
but again you get that kind of left handed slap hitter batting number two
14:28
in the lineup, and it's all just about getting on base, which she
14:31
did sixty two percent of the time, an unbelievable number for an on base
14:37
percentage, only struck out six times and walked eighteen times. I batted four
14:41
thirty six. And I think one of those players that was probably unsung as
14:48
far as you know, I don't know if she got any accolades, all
14:52
conference type stuff, but I recognized it right away. And like I said,
14:56
I did see a lot of Sea home games. There wasn't the team
14:58
wasn't loaded with seniors, but there was there was a handful. But she's
15:03
one of the main ones that they're going to have to replace next year.
15:05
I'm not quite sure who will take over that that spot. There's a few
15:09
different there's a few different people that that that could maybe JJ Lewis, I'm
15:16
not quite sure. But but boy, she she caught everything out there.
15:20
And but like I said, when she comes up to the plate, small
15:22
strike zone, she got on base, and she ran and ran and ran.
15:26
Scored twenty six runs as well to lead the team. Get this,
15:30
seventeen hits twenty six runs. Wow, you know, I mean that's you
15:35
don't you don't see I mean, you know, you kind of see that
15:37
every once in a while. You might see that like in Charles Gibson who
15:39
would come in and pinch, run a lot and stuff like that. Those
15:43
seventeen hits. Yeah, how many times did she score on those seventeen hits?
15:48
Was she seventeen for seventeen? Yeah, it could be. I don't
15:50
I don't know, you know, that would be really crazy. Got the
15:54
big time batters behind her. I mean she did get on base thirty six
15:58
times and she's twenty six times, So that's wild. That's pretty impressive.
16:03
Yeah, really good player. Where are we at here? Twenty six,
16:07
number twenty six in the top fifty count down senior or right fielder from Lynnon
16:11
Christian Addie DeYoung. Yeah, a player that one of the few seniors that
16:17
that got quite a bit of playing time, you know as a junior,
16:21
you know, got a little bit here and there, and then was relied
16:23
upon heavily this year and she's she's a stud. Again. When I think
16:27
of Lynden Christian fast pitch, I just think of these line drives and uh
16:33
and she was so consistent throughout the entire year. Had a great year,
16:37
batted four to twenty on the year, drove in twenty three, had twenty
16:42
nine hits, four doubles, five triples, seven stolen bases. I mean,
16:48
it's just and there was no dips in her game at all. I
16:52
mean it seemed like every single week she had like four or five hits.
16:57
Very very even keel, really good in the outfield as well, strong arm
17:02
and right field, very vocal out there, you know, telling everybody the
17:06
situations. Kind of relied upon as as one of the one of the few
17:10
seniors on the team. You know, he got a lot of freshmen and
17:11
sophomores out there. She's you know, she's barking out what's going to happen,
17:15
and you know, you know in he's go here, out, he's
17:18
go there, all that stuff, and and and really looked upon in a
17:22
great way by her teammates. And that always that always goes a long way.
17:26
When I'm watching, you can you can see what where the respect level
17:30
is on certain players, and the respect level with her was really high.
17:34
Number twenty five in the Top fifty count Down Senior center fielder High School,
17:41
Ella Malowly. Yeah. Last year, I remember she was getting hit by
17:45
a pitch like every game, it seemed like, and uh boy, I
17:48
mean she might have had fifteen by the end of the year, so I
17:52
didn't really know what to expect this year. That was like her thing,
17:55
right, she just get hit by a pitch all the time, and then
17:56
this year it's she only got hit four times, but she walked twenty four
18:02
times. But so she worked on getting out of the way, right,
18:07
you're right. And she started the year batting in like the sixth spot and
18:11
was doing pretty well, and then all of a sudden they kind of changed
18:15
the lineup a little bit. And I remember going to it might have been
18:19
the district first round of districts, and she's put in the number two spot
18:22
and they were just trying to, you know, get something going here.
18:26
And boy, near the end of the year, I remember it was the
18:30
I think it was the Ferndale game, It might have been the Furno game
18:33
where she hit she hit, she hit, went out there and then it
18:37
was kind of a surprise, like whoa, Like, I don't know if
18:38
she's done that before. And then she hit a couple of them during the
18:41
district tournament and it was just like holy cow, like where's this power coming
18:47
from? And uh and the district tournament that that was the fence that was
18:52
the slow pitch softball fence, and so it was really I don't want to
18:56
say unexpected, but it was really welcoming for the team because uh, she's
19:02
always been a great you know, get on bass steel stuff like that,
19:04
center center fielder, good athlete. Uh. And she ended up catching a
19:08
game against Squalicum, you know, they just you know again and against a
19:12
really young team where they want to get some other players in other positions just
19:15
in case their everyday catcher goes down. You need to make sure you have
19:18
someone that can catch an entire game. And she did that, and she
19:22
did she did well. She had fifteen RBIs, stole ten bases again with
19:26
that double double there uh three home runs a triple to two doubles, bat
19:30
at three forty two, got on base fifty one percent of the time.
19:34
Uh had a great, great senior year. I think the improvement was was
19:40
was there and uh and led led her team to to you know, to
19:44
the final day of the season to be playing in the semi finals in the
19:48
state championship game and or the state championship tournament and and uh, yeah,
19:52
just a really really strong, really really strong season that uh that went well
19:57
in all phases of the game. She did really well. Number twenty four
20:02
on the Top fifty count down. Another freshman utility player, Lyndon Christian links
20:07
it's Courtney Tolsmath. Yeah, definitely utility. But I think she found a
20:12
spot maybe a catcher. She was playing in the outfield, she was playing
20:18
shortstop a bunch, and near the end of the year she ended up kind
20:22
of being the everyday catcher. And I don't know if that's a natural position
20:26
for her, but when you got a player that's that talented and you need
20:32
someone really I mean, catching is tough. I mean you're putting on the
20:34
gear and every single inning you're taking it off, you're putting it on.
20:37
You know, it's it's it's it's crazy, and it's not easy. And
20:42
and she took it on and and did really really well, made good defensive
20:47
plays back there, had a good arm throwing a second base and and was
20:52
and was you know, offensively was just again at one of those pests on
20:57
the base pats ten doubles, ten and three triples, so taking the extra
21:03
base hit a gap hitter, no home runs, but thirteen extra base hits
21:07
on only eight singles. Twenty four RBIs nine stolen bases to tie with the
21:11
team lead, batted three forty four in the year, walked more than she
21:15
struck out. I mean, these are all numbers that you wouldn't expect a
21:18
freshman to have, and especially playing all these different positions defensively, Man a
21:25
lot of a lot of passion in her game too. You could see it
21:27
on her face, you know everything. And again with the line drive,
21:33
hitting and playing catcher and doing it as a freshman. They had another freshman
21:40
catcher earlier in the year, Sloan Hansen. She ended up moving to left
21:42
field, and they just they kind of just kept moving things around until they
21:45
found with what worked, and it really worked in the district tournament when they
21:49
you know, they beat they beat Blaine and they beat Baker. They beat
21:52
both those teams, the two teams that everyone was kind of looking to to
21:56
that was gonna be the two to get to. They beat both of them
22:00
on that first day of the district tournament, which was huge. Yeah,
22:03
they ended up dropping the next two to Baker and they were eliminated, but
22:06
holy cow, that team they found the mix that worked, and the mix
22:11
that works was with her at catcher and so you could. You might be
22:15
you might be seeing that the next three years. And they had to replace
22:18
a great one with Carson Postma the year before, and they went through a
22:22
few and I think they may have found it with Courtney Tolzma number twenty three
22:26
on the top fifty count down senior right fielder from the Linden Lions Children the
22:33
Young probably the best chance that I heard all year. We want some Chillie,
22:40
and then everyone, we want some Chillie. And it was so cool.
22:44
I mean even at the state tournament. By the time she had like
22:45
her third or fourth that bat, the announcer was like, and now Chili
22:49
the Young and uh give you know, doing the old doing the you know
22:55
the nickname going on the pa there. It was awesome. Again, I
23:00
think of line drives up the middle. She's really good at just you know,
23:04
we were talking about cricket the other day or earlier today. You know,
23:10
she could take a low ball and just crush it straight up the middle.
23:15
And it was a really good right fielder too. I mean she there
23:18
was a there was a big time game where like in extra innings where she
23:22
doubled up a runner to keep the inning, to keep the game alive,
23:26
which they won in the bottom of the next inning, and and it during
23:30
during the state tournament. And you know, not a lot of right fielders
23:33
on this list. We just talked about one with Addie DeYoung. I'm sure
23:37
there's a relationship there, you know, their cousins or whatever, two different
23:41
schools. But you know a lot of times you put, you know,
23:45
put someone in right field that is just you know, gonna be able to
23:48
play good defense and might might be able to hit. And sheep added cleanup
23:51
on this team. This was not just another player, big time player,
23:56
really really good offensively hit three p forty ten doubles, two home runs,
24:00
thirty two runs, batted in one hundred and seven played appearances, only struck
24:06
out nine times. That was the best. That was the best or the
24:10
lowest, I should say strikeout percentage. I remember she got a hit off
24:12
of Emerson Baker and they played together in the in the Summer League. And
24:18
I remember and when the inning was over and Blaine was coming off the field,
24:22
they were coming towards the dugout and I heard Emerson say, I can't
24:25
believe I threw like a first pitch fastball to Chili, like she just said
24:30
it to herself, like I can't believe I just did that. And it
24:33
was so funny because that tells me something like they know the hitters, like
24:36
they know, like, oh, I can't believe I just did that.
24:38
She's she's she is that good. And she was. She had a great
24:41
year. Number twenty two on the top fifty countdown, another freshman utility player
24:48
from Squalacum. It's Addie Addie Hobber. Yeah. And as I was going,
24:56
you know, counting down this list, I would imagine that a lot
25:00
of people and once I got to like the thirties, you know, and
25:03
that Squalicum player hadn't been named yet, and they didn't and they and they
25:07
they didn't have a win the entire year, and so I think people were
25:11
probably thinking, oh, they might not even have a player named. Well,
25:15
Addie Hobber was just so good, and she missed a handful of games.
25:19
She only had forty played appearances, and that was kind of my cutoff
25:22
was forty, and she had it right on the dot with forty. But
25:26
I tell you what, forty played appearances, she had almost twice as many
25:32
hits than the next player on her team. She had, She had she
25:36
led with twenty RBIs the next player had seven. On our team, she
25:40
had she batted four eighty six, slug seven fourteen and again with forty playing
25:45
appearances, she only walked twice and struck out four times. She is putting
25:51
the ball in play, so an exciting player to watch, puts the time
25:56
in I see you know, post on Instagram where she's in the cages and
26:00
it was you know, it's rough when you're losing every game, but she
26:03
puts forth a ton of effort. I saw her play catcher, I saw
26:06
her play center field. I saw her play in the infield. I'm not
26:10
quite sure where she's going to be playing it. They might just end up,
26:14
you know, using her wherever they need. I don't know if she
26:17
can pitch. She didn't pitch this year, but maybe it's something she's going
26:21
to work on. But she is going to be the big you know,
26:23
I mean, be the be the top player on the team. And to
26:26
be a freshman that just tells you how young that that that that team is.
26:30
And and I think she wants it. I think she I think she's
26:33
going to be one of those players that's going to be able to rally the
26:37
troops around her, they're going to start winning. You know, she got
26:40
on base fifty five percent of the time. I mean I think the rest
26:42
of the team as a team it was like under thirty percent. And so
26:48
she's going to be a big time leader for that for that team. And
26:49
again, I was just a really really good overall fast pitch player. There's
26:55
another freshman on that team, Leila Stanford, which is was really good too.
26:59
She just didn't have enough played appearances, but she hit a couple home
27:02
runs. She batted three seventies. So those two together are gonna help be
27:07
the future for squal and fast pitch. But yeah, Addie Harber seventeen hits,
27:12
four doubles, two triples, twenty RBIs eleven stolen bases again with the
27:17
double double there with RBIs and steels. So a player that can do a
27:19
little bit of everything and plays great defense wherever she goes. So exciting to
27:25
see her future number twenty one on the top fifty count down as sophomore second
27:30
baseman from the Blaine Border Rights. It's a Leah Bauman. Yeah, and
27:34
I had heard that she was playing second base just kind of out of they
27:40
needed someone to play second type type deal, and it was a position that
27:42
she'd never played before, and she did awesome, really good athlete, just
27:48
a sophomore, and she was kind of batting like in the seven to eighth
27:51
spot, and then all of a sudden, she just got on a tear
27:53
one week and then they put her in the number two spot and she held
27:56
on to it the rest of the year. And it's just like every single
28:00
game she just kept hitting, kept hitting. She had batted four eighteen on
28:04
the year. Uh you know, on base four ninety four, hit two
28:08
doubles, hit a triple, seven RBIs, three stolen bases, and she
28:14
just kind of quietly was really consistent after having you know, she was good
28:18
in the beginning of the year, but she had that big monster week or
28:19
week and a half, and then she's just kind of kept that level the
28:23
rest of the year. Maybe dipped a little bit, but definitely above average
28:26
the rest of the year and and you know, just quietly did her job.
28:32
But boy, she can she can turn her around on a fastball really
28:34
quick. She her stance or like her bat is not quite Julio Franco,
28:40
you know where it's corked way over, but it's you know, the elbows
28:44
way up and the bat is way up, so and that's that's tough to
28:48
get around on a fastball. But she has really good bat speed and she
28:52
doesn't she does not swing and miss too often. You know, seventy seven
28:56
played appearances, only ten ten strikeouts, so I mean there's some really good
28:59
player was on her team that had over twenty. There was you know,
29:02
five different starters on the team that had over twenty strikeouts, so she only
29:06
had ten. So really good connection. Just a natural athlete and uh and
29:11
played a really good second base number twenty in the top fifty count down a
29:17
junior shortstop from Nuksac Valley. It's Shelby Mason. Yeah, I mean,
29:22
just great, great player. You know, all the all these short stops
29:27
they're they're gonna be they're gonna be great players. But there's I remember I
29:32
was talking to coach Harmon before the season started and I was talking about some
29:36
of the players coming back and I forgot to mention Shelby Mason and he kind
29:40
of looked at me and he goes, she goes, He's like, Shelby
29:42
Mason could play. I was like, oh, of course, I didn't
29:45
even think about her and he goes yeah, He's like, yeah, she
29:48
is gonna be one of the one of the main players. And she was.
29:52
She was awesome. She had it three ninety five, led the team
29:55
with seven doubles, hit two triples, twenty three runs batted in, and
29:59
thirteen stolen bases. Again with that double double that I like to see there
30:03
over a thousand on the ops and again playing shortstop, so you're you know,
30:08
you're getting a lot of action there in the infield. Really good athletically,
30:14
strong arm and just a junior. This Kooksack team was really really young.
30:18
I want to say, Lady Kimball was the only senior on the team.
30:22
And they and they got hot at the end. I mean, they
30:25
had to play a playing game to get the district tournament. Then they get
30:27
to districts. They lose to Baker, but they beat they eliminated Blaine,
30:32
who was, you know, one of the top teams. And then they
30:33
stuck and so they were able to stay around till the to the to the
30:37
the next day and you know, they end up losing to Mount Baker again.
30:41
But boy, they that's a that was a really really talented team.
30:45
Obviously they're will coach Tom Harmon's been coaching there since the mid eighties, and
30:49
uh, and she is she is going to be and she is already one
30:56
of the main contributors on that team, batting in the middle of the lineup.
30:59
And uh and you know twenty three RBIs that was second on the team.
31:03
So a good clutch hitter and all that stuff. I mean, she's
31:07
she's going to be one of the top players in the league next year once
31:10
again, number nineteen on the top fifty Countdown. Senior second Baseman High School,
31:18
Lauren Vollum. The first thing that comes to my mind is clutch.
31:22
Every time it seemed like she came up when there was like two outs and
31:26
a runner or two in scoring position, she got a hit almost every single
31:30
time. And that's so much of that is mental and the mental toughness that
31:34
she had to do that was just great, especially in the playoffs and these
31:38
are against really good pitchers. And when they kind of moved the batting order
31:44
around, they moved her to the five spot to protect Ava Juretzky, who
31:48
was you know, leading you know, in so many different categories offensively,
31:52
and you have to have good protection behind her, and she did awesome,
31:56
and she did so well in the playoffs doing that now and defensively, you
32:02
know, it's hard to say who the best defensive second basement was. She's
32:06
she's up there. I might say Campbell to young, but she's she's right
32:09
there. And Uh. She ended up having to move and play some play
32:13
some shortstop because of an injury in the in the I can the late in
32:19
the district playoffs and then into the state playoffs when Annealie Cohne got injured,
32:22
they had to flop positions, uh because of her, because Annelie's shoulder and
32:28
she'll she ended up playing shortstop in the state tournament. She played a little
32:30
bit out of position, but she had played that. I think I think
32:32
she made have played that when she was a freshman on the varsity team.
32:36
She ended up playing some right field every once in a while when they needed
32:39
to, when they moved some things around and a different picture would come in
32:42
and you have to you have to make movements with the extra player. So
32:45
they put her on right field. I mean, she could play anywhere and
32:50
and so that value was just huge. She ended up with thirty RBIs for
32:53
a player that didn't have any home runs with thirty RBIs and that tells you
32:58
right there, how she she's a runners in scoring position, eight doubles,
33:01
one triple, batted three seventy two, slugged four to seventy nine, I
33:07
mean, scored thirty six runs. Just a just a great, great player
33:10
with so many years of varsity experience, and every time she came up,
33:15
you just had that confidence that she was going to do something great, and
33:17
she usually did. Number eighteen on the top fifty count down to junior shortstop
33:22
and a pitcher from the Ferndale of Golden Eagles, it's Jaysina Lwan. Yeah.
33:29
The first thing that comes to my mind was that game winning home run
33:31
when they when they pitched, when they put on Kylen Blakely to pitch to
33:36
her, and she ended up walking it off on like the next pitch.
33:39
Oh man, against a really good against. I'm trying to now, I'm
33:45
trying to remember who it was against. I might have been Mount Vernon and
33:51
just crushed it. Oh cle cow. She I mean she cleared the fence
33:55
by forty feet at least, and she can. And she had a few
34:00
of those like just like those no doubters, you know what I mean.
34:04
She had threeland runs on the air. She also had three triples, two
34:07
doubles, batted four oh eight uh twenty seven RBIs again uh not a lot
34:13
of walks or strikeout single digits in both stole seven bases as well, so
34:16
really aggressive on the base on the bases, and then she could come in
34:21
and pitch if if needed. She'll probably end up being the pitcher next year
34:25
with the graduation of Mallory button shown. But she was able to go in
34:30
and throw a few and she threw almost fourteen innings, struck out eight batters,
34:34
you know, kind of kind of a little bit too many walks there,
34:37
but again that's something that they'll work on and she'll be relied upon to
34:42
be the main you know, the main player. Good defensively too, playing
34:45
playing shortstop. She was the player of the week that one week when when
34:49
when she hit that game winning home run and then and I saw I was
34:53
watching that live on game changer when when she hit it, because I was
34:59
waiting for that last game to get done. It was just a back and
35:00
forth game. And then I think it was like I don't know, it
35:05
was like a day later or two I went and saw her alive and she
35:07
did the exact same thing that they always go to, like right center.
35:09
She just gets that extension and then just hits a shot that's a no doubter
35:14
and and so that's it's always exciting to see. And and she she hit
35:17
a couple of she hit three home runs. Like I said, twenty seven
35:21
RBIs second on the team four oh eight average, And we get to watch
35:24
her for another year, well, speaking of another year, and then two
35:29
more after that, and at number seventeen is another freshman infielder from Lynden,
35:34
Christian Teya Vandercoy. Yeah, I I it was just a it was a
35:40
crazy year because I had known about this this player and and know she shoot
35:46
up from varsity for volleyball, and but I knew she was a fast pitch
35:52
kid, and I was excited to go. And I saw the first game.
35:57
I wanted to see her, and then I saw these other freshmen for
35:59
lin I was like, man, this class is just loaded. And she
36:02
was starting at second base and she was hitting like sixth in the lineup.
36:06
And I think that first game she walked five times or some crazy thing.
36:09
And and I think she walked like her first seven at bats or some just
36:15
some weird stat where it's like she doesn't even have an average yet, you
36:17
know, but here on bases a thousand and and once she started hitting,
36:22
it was just hit a hit after hit after hit, and she was moving
36:27
up the lineup. She started instead of second, she started moving over to
36:30
shortstop, and all of a sudden, you know, she's she's batting lead
36:35
off, and she's you know, there were games where maybe they lost,
36:39
like three to one, but she hit a solo home run and it's like,
36:42
holy cow, like she's turning into one of the best hitters on this
36:45
team. And she ended up she ended up bleeding the team with five home
36:50
runs. The team as a whole hit eight. She had five of them
36:53
from the leadoff spot. As a freshman, four doubles, two triples,
36:57
twenty five RBIs, seven steals. She batted four sixty six and walked seventeen
37:02
times, struck out just eleven times in ninety three plate appearances. As the
37:07
season wore on, she just got the You could see the improvement as the
37:13
season got on. She just got better and better and better, and she
37:15
was just a tougher out all the time. I think if you took just
37:19
the final half of the season, she probably hit like five eighty if you
37:22
just take the second half that you know, she kept creeping into the into
37:28
the top ten for batning average, she kept moving up the list and stuff
37:30
like that. Like it was just really really impressive to see the highest ranked
37:35
freshman I have, And this is a great freshman class. I think I
37:37
had like seven freshmen in the top fifty, and she was the highest,
37:42
the highest ranked one. Really really impressive. She could, she puts the
37:45
work in and I would imagine that she could play a lot of different positions,
37:51
and she's gonna hold on to that leadoff spot unless they just unless they
37:54
use that power and they want runners to get on, maybe she'll go to
37:58
the three spot or something. But again, like like like you said,
38:01
you know, this year and a few more years or next year and a
38:05
few more years after that. Absolutely, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
38:08
This is what twenty four, so we're going to talk about her all
38:14
the way through twenty twenty seven. Well, yeah, I mean just think
38:16
about that like that. That's crazy to say, Yeah, I mean,
38:21
like it is. Yeah, I mean twenty twenty seven, I mean,
38:23
come on, number sixteen on the top of fifty countdown the senior catcher from
38:30
the Seahome Mariners. It's the least kroud. Yeah, holy cow, really
38:36
really good catcher. And I was I was shocked that she was not,
38:44
you know, higher on like the All conference stuff. Man, she's good.
38:51
Batted five seventeen and wow, hit a home hit a home run,
38:55
led with twenty nine RBIs obviously led with the five seventeen average team uh,
39:00
led with nine doubles. She also, I mean she had the most singles,
39:05
doubles, home runs, RBIs, batting average, everything. I mean,
39:08
it was a it was a rough year for Sea Home. I get
39:10
it. I think they won seven or eight games, but that has league
39:16
exactly exactly she was. She was so good and there's a ton of good
39:22
catchers, but her numbers speak speak for itself. Her ops was twelve ninety.
39:28
Oh my, you know what I mean. I mean, that's I
39:30
mean, and she struck out three times in sixty eight plate appearances. And
39:35
she's got a good arm, and you know, and she's and she's uh,
39:40
she's not yet average catcher. Like you look at her and you think
39:44
she probably played first like she's about five eleven and and but she has such
39:47
a strong arm and and and just a just a great, great player.
39:52
And uh yeah, I don't I don't think because they only did a first
39:58
and second team, and but it was involving all you know, fourteen or
40:01
fifteen in school or whatever it is, and she wasn't she wasn't named,
40:05
and I was just I just couldn't believe it. Man, what a what
40:09
a great great player A senior though, which is too bad because especially with
40:14
these Sea kids, Like, like I said, I just didn't I didn't
40:16
know that much about them even going into the year. So this was kind
40:21
of my lone time to watch her play. So I'm glad I saw eight
40:23
or nine games. I'm glad I got to see her hit the ball over
40:28
the field. I think there was one game where they had a pretty big
40:30
lead and so they all got to play a different position. I think she
40:32
went and played shortstop, which was pretty cool. But yeah, again,
40:37
and with the respect level, I mean, the rest of her teammates,
40:40
they look up to her, you know, literally, but u but she
40:45
is kind of the pillar of that of that team. And and and again,
40:50
putting the gear on over and over again, and the weather and and
40:53
uh and and it was a lot, and there was a lot of sea
40:57
home walked, a lot of batters, and so there were long innings and
41:01
you don't think I never saw her complain. So every single thing that you
41:07
want in a player was there. And I think when they played, you
41:10
know, they're a loser out game in the district tournament. I believe it
41:14
was against Archbishop and I think she went like four for four or five for
41:17
five, like she just she put it all out there in that last game
41:20
and they lost with like a base running air at the in the bottom of
41:23
the seventh and that was it and they lost by like one. So I
41:27
mean it was right there. She did everything she could to help her team,
41:30
and she had a phenomenal year. Tyler, I liked a little joke
41:34
about, like, you know, her teammates look up to her. Yeah.
41:37
Gets me to thinking, Tyler, of the top fifty, how many
41:40
do you physically look up to? Oh? Half of them at least.
41:45
Yeah, I mean it's it's fast pitched, so it's girls. A lot
41:47
of them are like, let's put it to you this way. There's maybe
41:54
only like a couple of guys on the baseball top fifty that you might physically
41:59
look up to because usually that short it's a little bit tougher in baseball.
42:04
Right fast pitch, on the other hand, there's quite a few. I
42:09
mean, you can have a second basement that's short that can get on base,
42:14
or maybe the slap hitter right like you talk about. Yeah, yeah,
42:17
which, by the way, I watched a lot of fast pitch at
42:22
Bothel this year. I was actually surprised how many girls do that, Like,
42:27
yeah, there's a lot of them, Like I was. First off,
42:30
I was surprised at how many left handed hitters there were too, because
42:32
there's there's some lefty hitters in baseball, but not it's not a ton,
42:37
right, there's a lot of girls that hit left handed, and there's a
42:40
lot of them that throw left handed too. I mean, I was truly
42:45
blown away at how many lefties there are in fast pitch compared to baseball.
42:47
And I don't know why that is, you know, like I don't know
42:52
if there's a any type of a reason or something for it, but I
42:54
was blown away to how many lefties there are in fast pitch. Fifteen Tyler
43:00
on the top fifty countdown junior shortstop from Lynden. We're gonna thank her.
43:07
Oh no, we already did, Melanie Anderson, she gave us the intro
43:10
today. Yeah. She pats left handed, throws right handed. There you
43:15
go, and she and she can do that slap stuff pretty darn well.
43:20
But she's got some popner bat too, so she's not just a slap hitter.
43:23
Yeah, she's one heck of a player. She's a veteran of the
43:28
Walkham Preps co ed's slow pitch softball team. Oh really, Oh yeah,
43:36
she played on that after her freshman year of high school during the summer,
43:40
which I think you're supposed to be at least eighteen, but you know,
43:44
well, but that also shows Tyler, there's no bias in this top fifty
43:46
because you could have put her way higher because she was your teammate. She
43:51
was well. Yeah, and her and her older sister Riley, who congratulations
43:57
to her, and the Western Washington University fast pitch team took second in the
44:00
in the nation. Wow, and an unbelievable run that they were on.
44:05
And and for her efforts, Riley got to throw out the first pitch at
44:07
the Bellingham Bells game last week. So and she was she played on our
44:13
team too, So yeah, our team was a little bit stacked. But
44:16
but yeah, Melanie Anderson is again you're getting now to these players of players
44:22
that can do everything and play a lot of Summer league and stuff like that.
44:27
And she plays on the Walk and Wolverines team. It's funny because you
44:30
said shortstop, which she played shortstop the entire year, But I don't I
44:34
think for the for the for the Wolverines. I think she plays some second
44:37
plays some center fields. She does play some shortstop. She's all over the
44:39
place and a great, great year. Batted four thirty five, seven doubles,
44:47
two triples, three home runs for someone that doesn't slap every once in
44:51
a while, thirty RBI's and get this, twenty three stolen bases. I
44:57
was talking about the double doubles with RBIs and stolen base She's like, she's
45:01
over twenty in both, like not not not just over ten, over twenty
45:05
thirty RBIs twenty three stolen bases on base percentage of five forty three. Uh.
45:10
And then defensively she gets every single thing. And it's so funny too
45:15
because when there's a runner trying to steal, I've seen her do this a
45:19
couple of times, like they're going they have a really good catcher obviously,
45:22
but by the way, and so there, you know, Casey Thomas will
45:24
throw out the runner, Melanie Anderson will go and take out the runner and
45:30
just and just hold the ball up in the air ball while like looking down
45:32
just so the umpire sees it, and then they call out. And I
45:35
even got a picture of it once. I almost use that as her picture
45:37
for the for the graphic because I saw it a couple of times and I
45:42
just laughed because it was just like I got it right here, you know,
45:45
like there's no hitting ball trick going on here. Yeah, A very
45:49
serious player, like a very she kind of keeps the same demeanor all the
45:52
time and and really into the game. And uh, you know, I
45:58
think I saw her at like game one, her game too. I think
46:00
it was the first home game anyways, and I'm just standing there in this
46:04
little area that's kind of by the dugout and kind of got a little cutout
46:07
area for the media to take pictures and stuff, and she's just sitting there
46:09
doing her warm up swings and she's like, hey, Tyler, you know,
46:14
just like game face, like she's serious. You know, I almost
46:17
was weird, like asking her to do the intro because I thought like she
46:22
might be too serious to do it, but she was like, oh,
46:23
of course I'll do it. I was like, okay, okay, because
46:25
she's she's pretty quiet, you know. But man, what a player and
46:30
uh defensively, I mean, twenty three steals on the bases, hit four
46:35
thirty five, everything has some power. Three home runs. I think she's
46:38
already hit like four more in the summer. Big time, big time player,
46:44
major major talent. You definitely gonna see her play at the next level.
46:46
Yeah, we might need to give a little bit of a disclaimer too,
46:50
Tyler. She was not driving when she when she recorded. Somebody else
46:53
was driving that. Yeah, correct, Yeah, that was that was not
46:58
her, Like we and we do not add kate for that, like put
47:00
your phones down while you're driving, So that was not. Yeah, do
47:05
not drive and record intros for the Walking Pros podcast. Yes, yes,
47:07
no, no cars were driven while this was being recorded. There you go,
47:13
number fourteen on the top fifty count down. A senior pitcher from Meridian.
47:16
It's Katie Pringaman. Yeah, she did an intro for us earlier in
47:21
the year. What a competitor. The only player in walkin County this year
47:27
to pitch every inning of their team's games. Wow, every inning. So
47:31
that right there in itself is really impressive. One hundred and twenty seven and
47:36
two thirds innings and only walked thirty six batters. She's just a strike thrower,
47:42
I mean, plain and simple. Uh. And when she walked thirty
47:45
six, she's also struck out one hundred and forty eight. Her ERA was
47:49
three point nine to five. Now, the problem was is there was over
47:53
one hundred unearned runs scored, over one hundred unearned runs. Yeah, so
48:01
there was a little defensive issues every once in a while, but it didn't
48:07
it didn't fall on her. I mean, she was just such She's such
48:08
a great pitcher and probably the quickest wind up I've seen too. You kind
48:14
of see usually you see kind of a rock back yeah, and a forward
48:16
and then get slow like and then yah boom yeah and then and she just
48:22
kind of just goes forward and whips it and it's just like, holy cow,
48:27
and she just throws strikes. I mean she just pounds of strikes on
48:30
boom boom boom. And then as a hitter, I mean, holy cow.
48:34
Uh, she was the best hitter on that Meridian team. I was,
48:37
I was, I was amazed that she wasn't pitched around more. She
48:40
batted five hundred hit She hit five home runs. The team had seven,
48:45
she had five of them. She had eight doubles, which was the rest
48:50
of the team had eight combined. She had twenty four RBIs. She led
48:54
with thirty thirty one hits. She led with twenty one runs scored. She
48:58
walked twelve times. Uh, just unbelievable ops of fourteen sixty three. Uh.
49:05
So you start putting all those things together with the pitching that, you
49:08
know, having to endure both those things. Uh, what a great season
49:13
and a great career. I mean she got thrown into it as a freshman,
49:16
and it's very possible. I don't know this for sure, she may
49:20
have pitched every inning as a freshman. Even so, she's been kind of
49:23
that workhorse for four years. She Sidney Tinklay Pink pitched a little bit last
49:29
year, but then she got hurt. So Katie had to pitch the rest
49:31
of the way and she pitched in that you know, uh play in game
49:36
last year for the district tournament, and she got the win there and got
49:38
into the district tournament. She willed that team into the playoffs. It didn't
49:43
happen this year. This year they lost to Knuksack Valley in that playing game,
49:46
which was at Meridian, and then that was it. You know,
49:50
one of only two seniors on the team. I saw her walking off the
49:52
field late. I wanted to go over to her and just tell her how
49:57
how great you know of a career she had, but I just didn't want
49:59
to to interrupt, you know, And I just it's a tough moment.
50:02
It's always weird, like you feel like you could do it, but also
50:07
like, h I know, if I was in that situation, I wouldn't
50:10
really want to hear from somebody, you know. So it's like it's weird,
50:14
like, yeah, I know how you I've been in that situation so
50:16
many times where you're just like, man, I want to say something,
50:20
but also man, I don't want to say especially when it's a spring sport,
50:24
you know, and I know she plays soccer. It's it's like this
50:27
is it. This is her last sport, and so, uh, that
50:30
was tough, but you know, I know she knows that how much I
50:34
appreciated her playing. You know, Kevin her do an intro and you know,
50:37
I've written about her a ton, and so I think that she understands,
50:40
and you know, I just hope that she knows that it was it
50:45
was awesome to see and and and what a what a great career, and
50:49
and for her to come alive as a hitter too, I mean that was
50:52
that was really really cool. And with the five home runs and the five
50:54
hundred batting average, unbelievable, number thirteen on the top fifty countdown. It's
51:00
a senior center fielder from Nooksack Valley, a name that we've never mentioned on
51:07
anything wat come preaps wise, Yeah, right, obviously a joke here,
51:10
Laney Kimball. Yeah, just the one of the best athletes I've ever seen.
51:19
And you talk about walkin County history female athletes, and she's up there.
51:23
I mean she is way up there when you talk about all the accomplishments
51:28
in all the sports. I mean, two times state basketball champion, and
51:32
you know, as a sophomore she played on the state championship fast pitch team,
51:37
took her volleyball team to state. I think they got sixth in state.
51:40
Just multiple you know, I mean twelve twelve letters. You know,
51:45
you can't do better. Than that, and always a focal point of the
51:52
team. I mean, just unbelievable athlete and a great and a great kid
51:57
too, like willing to talk to the press all the time and easy to
52:00
get a quote out of her, always smiling, but on the court or
52:06
on the field, holy cow, intense, you know, and the emotion
52:13
in her face from from you know, struggling to get something done athletically to
52:20
elation to joy to everything was just you could always see it, and you
52:24
could tell that she loved it. That's what she loves. She loves being
52:29
there with her friends. She loves doing all that. I mean, the
52:32
things that I saw her do are things I've never seen athletes do. I
52:36
mean, I can just think of lots of things in all sports, but
52:39
man, this year in fast pitched, this is a player. She batted
52:44
lead off and she hates to walk. That's what. That's kind of a
52:46
funny, you know. I mean, each row is kind of like that.
52:49
He didn't walk a ton, and but she had ninety two played appearances,
52:54
walked four times. She wants to swing the bat. She's a great
53:00
natural hitter, I mean, obviously a natural athlete. Batted four fourteen five
53:05
doubles, four triples, four home runs, twenty two RBIs, which is
53:09
pretty good out of the leadoff spot, nine stolen bases, you know,
53:14
covers ground and center field. I was at that game. I've mentioned this
53:19
playing game a few times now against Meridian. It was at Meridian and Laney's
53:22
the lone senior on this team. She's in the on deck circle. The
53:25
nine hitter is Peyton Bartell, who's left handed and does that slap hitting right,
53:30
and the dugout is on the third base side, and so Laney's in
53:36
the on deck circle and she takes one of those slap pits because they get
53:39
fouled that way so many times. And it went right off of Laney's hand,
53:45
I mean, boom. And I was like, oh no, because
53:47
they're down at this point and she's a senior. This could be her last
53:52
game. The rest of the players are going to play next year. This
53:55
is her last game. And she just got hit by a foul ball right
53:59
in the hand, and she goes into the dugout, puts ice on it.
54:01
She misses a couple innings. Ally Benner comes in, plays a couple
54:05
innings, she replaces her comes back in got tape on the hand. The
54:07
wrist plays the rest of the game. She as tough as nails, tough
54:14
athletic, I mean everything, she's She's everything that you want in an athlete
54:17
and and and a person, just a great, great person. So congratulations
54:22
on an awesome career and what a what a great season too. It is
54:27
not the season knooksac Vallely really wanted, but they had a great strong end
54:30
of this to the season. But she had a remarkable year. Number twelve
54:36
on the top fifty countdown. A senior picture from the Linden Lions. It's
54:39
Trinity Andrew. Yeah, awesome, awesome picture. I mean, she led
54:45
the she led the counting with the eighteen wins. She went eighteen and five.
54:50
And it wasn't like she was the only pitcher. Two other Linden pitchers
54:53
got wins. Uh there were you know, let's see here, there were
55:00
fifty innings fifty innings this year from Lyndon that she did not pitch. Wow.
55:04
So uh so it wasn't like she was out there every single time,
55:07
and she still had the most wins. She went eight Like I said,
55:09
eighteen and five. She struck out one hundred and sixty three batters. And
55:14
walked just forty five a two point five to one era. She threw almost
55:19
one hundred and twenty innings and it didn't really just it wasn't just that.
55:23
I mean her hitting was was was great as well, a lot kind of
55:28
like Jordan Vezzetti, a long ball threat where there was a little bit of
55:31
all or nothing to her to her swing, but man, when she made
55:37
when she when she connected, it was it was amazing. I think she
55:39
won Player of the Week early on like week two, where she just had
55:43
this week where she was just like home run like I don't know it was
55:46
it seems like she had like four home runs in one week or something crazy
55:50
like that. She ended with six home runs. This is what's crazy.
55:53
Six home runs only one double. So that's what I mean, Like if
55:57
she's getting a hold of it good, wow, it's it's not it's not
56:00
just going to be in the gap, it's going to be over the fence.
56:04
She did hit a couple of triples as well, ended with thirty rbies
56:07
of four oh six average. She had thirty nine hits total and yeah,
56:13
just and a big time presence in the circle as well, like like she's
56:17
she is cut like she is ripped. That's she is one strong girl.
56:22
And when she throws that pitch. I mean there was one time when she
56:23
took a comebacker or or it might have been when she was hitting and the
56:27
ball the ball hit her and I was looking over at at Connor and I
56:31
said, I feel bad for that ball, Like she's just she's she is
56:35
so strong. And I think the next app bat she she hit one out
56:38
and it was I think it was last year's district tournament at Cedar Woolly and
56:44
just a just a great overall player and a really really good kid too.
56:47
And uh man, what a year for her pitching and and hitting. And
56:53
I think that before the year started, I think most people would have looked
56:58
at this Linen's team and said, well, they're they're good. I don't
57:00
think they're you know, gonna make the state tournament good, but they're pretty
57:05
good. They and they go out and they go to the state tournament and
57:09
get it upset, win in the first round, and you know, and
57:13
you know, I was talking to some people and they're like, you know,
57:15
no one even thought we would be here, and they got to the
57:16
second day. And she's a huge, huge part of that because of what
57:22
she could do in the you know, pitching wise, and and you know
57:25
the repetive the repetitive motion of that pitch and getting the ball to move and
57:31
stuff like that, striking batters out. And she's gonna be missed next year
57:37
for sure. Last one on the list for today, number eleven on the
57:40
top fifty count down senior pitcher from the Ferndale Golden Eagles. It's Mallory Button
57:46
shown. Yeah, and someone might look at that and go, well,
57:50
her pitching numbers aren't as good as Trinity's. How come she's ranked ahead of
57:52
her? Well, it's really really close. But ask Trinity how tough it
57:57
is to pitch against Mallory Button shown as a hitter. I uh, that
58:00
game was of downpour rain. I think Mallory hit two home runs in her
58:05
first two at bats against Trinity. And Mallory could pit. I mean she
58:09
threw, she threw well. She went eight to nine on the year eighty
58:14
five innings, struck out one hundred and nine, only walked thirty two.
58:16
The era was kind of high at five point five eight, but as a
58:21
leadoff hitter, Holy Canoli, she was. She was fantastic. Four ninety
58:25
one average hit five home runs, twenty five RBIs, seven doubles, a
58:30
triple. Yeah, just the ops of one point five one six. Oh
58:37
so now you're getting too the ops is in the fifteen hundreds, which is
58:40
just ridiculous. She slugged. She slugged nine to twenty seven. That's just
58:46
ridiculous. Nine slugging, right, I mean not see, that's the thing.
58:52
Now you're getting into these numbers that are just crazy. And and you
58:55
know, she could probably place in the she probably plays some third or short
59:00
or something like that. But and I know she's going on to play college
59:02
and she's gonna be a two sport athlete in college, which is which is
59:07
awesome, volleyball and fast pitch. And I don't I don't know. I
59:09
don't know if she's going to pitch or not. She might be some playing
59:14
some third or something like that. But what again, these are You're starting
59:19
to get to these athletes that are so great, such such great athletes,
59:22
but unbelievable kids. I mean, the stuff she does with like you know,
59:27
like with the incoming freshman and the ASB president, and you know,
59:31
the leadership that she has and being like like the player on all three sports
59:37
and and just and always smiling and the competitiveness and all that stuff. I
59:44
know we've talked about her a lot. You know, we talked about a
59:45
lot during volleyball and basketball as well, but man, she's just she's just
59:50
one of those players that if great things are happening, she's she's she's around
59:54
that, she's she's a part of it. And uh, she's gonna do
59:58
great things, not just athletic going forward, but just in life because for
1:00:01
positivity and everything, and it really shines, like you can really see it.
1:00:06
And uh, and it's awesome to cover athletes like this. And I'm
1:00:09
so glad that I was able to jump around to these other sports in time
1:00:14
to watch her play because it was it was inspiring. I mean it was
1:00:19
it was it was really really incredible and and uh, just one of my
1:00:24
just obviously you can tell, but one of my favorite athletes to watch and
1:00:28
cover over this past you know, nine months, Tyler, you know you
1:00:34
mentioned how there was was it four guys that played football, basketball, and
1:00:39
baseball? Yeah? Seniors, seniors. Yeah, do we have like a
1:00:45
girls version of that, like volleyball, basketball, and softball? Jordan Bizzetti,
1:00:52
Laney Kimball Mallory Button shown. I mean, these are just off the
1:00:55
top of my head. Yeah, those are the three right off the top
1:01:00
of my head. I'd have to keep looking, but maybe for the top
1:01:04
ten, maybe we throw that out there because I think it's actually something to
1:01:07
be said because there's just not a ton of three sport athletes nowadays, and
1:01:12
especially in what I would say are like the three primary sports, you know
1:01:16
what I mean? Yeah, you know sometimes it might be, oh,
1:01:21
track, which no offense to track, but like we're talking these three sports
1:01:24
specifically. But that's an interesting, you know, thought, something to think
1:01:30
about there. So maybe we can figure that one out or at least come
1:01:34
up with a decent little list there, because I'm sitting here thinking about it,
1:01:38
and like you said, like Lany Kimball, Mallory Button, Sewan,
1:01:42
I'm sitting there going, I feel like we've talked about these girls a lot
1:01:45
this year, you know what I mean? Yeah? So absolutely, yeah,
1:01:50
that's it, Tyler. Anything else before we head on out. I
1:01:53
just looking forward to the top ten coming up here, and I know everyone
1:01:58
else is and we're going to be revealing that pretty soon. And when you
1:02:02
look at the numbers that these baseball and baskets players have had creeping into the
1:02:07
thirteen twelve eleven spot. You can only imagine how good these top ten players
1:02:13
are. Yeah, and it is. It is crazy. Some of these
1:02:15
numbers are just mind blowing. And it was a great, great year for
1:02:20
these for these sports. And it was just so fun every night going out
1:02:23
and watching as many games as I could. So yeah, it was a
1:02:27
lot of It was just really really cool. Yeah, you're talking about girls
1:02:30
that were hitting over five hundred and slugging like two thousand, like you know
1:02:34
what I mean, Like, what the heck is going on here? We're
1:02:36
not even in the top ten yet, like right, just crazy. So
1:02:39
I'm even slightly excited for this. I mean, it sounds like it's going
1:02:44
to be a fun top ten. A reminder, Tyler will be out at
1:02:47
District Brewing. If you're hearing this before noon, actually I guess before two.
1:02:52
Get on out there. If you're hearing this and it's like like one
1:02:55
thirty, go out there anyway, and make Tyler stay a little bit later
1:02:59
after two, just like I not only do I want you to make them
1:03:01
uncomfortable, but I want you to just keep them around any longer than you
1:03:05
can like, let's just let's try to let's try to just make Tyler's Sunday
1:03:09
a little different than he had had anticipated. Here District Brewing sixty nine to
1:03:14
twelve Hannigan Road, corner of Hannigan and Poll out there technically in Linden as
1:03:19
far as the address says, so yeah, I head on out there again.
1:03:22
Thank you also to man Insurance Line Drive Northwest for their support of Fast
1:03:27
Pitch on Walkom Preps during the spring season. We also need to say thank
1:03:30
you to Kurt Mayberry Farm and their website Kurt with the C M A B
1:03:36
E r r Y Farm dot com. He's Tyler Anderson of Walkompreps walkompreps dot
1:03:39
com. I'm Rylan Spencer. You've been listening to episode two hundred and sixty
1:03:43
one, the second of three podcasts we unveil the Fast Pitch Top fifty count
1:03:49
down here on the Walkam Preps podcast. We will talk to you next week.
1:03:52
Boy, that's a lot of lemons.