Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 245 - 2024 Fastpitch Preview

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Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 245 - 2024 Fastpitch Preview · Whatcom Preps Podcast

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This is Blade Senior Emerson Baker, and you're listening to the walcom Preps Podcast
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with Tyler and Ryland. Go board rights, Greetings, and welcome into the
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watcom Preps podcast. This is episode of two hundred and forty five, a
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Fast Pitch Preview. I'm Ryland Spencer along with me as always, Tyler Anderson
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love watcom Preps. Tyler, how are we doing? Doing great? Doing
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great? This is gonna be this is gonna be awesome, really cool.
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I started covering fast pitch about six years ago or something like that, and
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boy, it's a fun sport. It's fast, it's loud, the chance,
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the excitement, it's it's really cool. And I've gotten to know a
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lot of these teams. So this's'll be a fun Uh, it's be a
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fun podcast to talk about. Yeah, And as we get into the spring
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sports wrap ups that we're going to start doing, because we did Winter sports
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weekly wrap ups and now we're gonna have spring sports. I get to do
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a lot of this. Ron Lepper from Mount Bagger High School, Pat from
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Mount Bagger High School. I get to use from Mount Bagger High School.
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That's a lot of lemons. Ron Lepper from Mount Baker High School. There's
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gonna be a lot of it, Tyler. And today I've even got the
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old green button over there. You don't even know what that means. The
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green buttons is going to get used to. That being said, Tyler,
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we need to give a thank you to Emerson Baker Blaine senior pitcher who,
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by the way, she's going to try to strike you and I out at
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some point. I'm gonna go yard. I don't know about you, but
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I'm going deep. I'm I'm taking her over the fence. I would probably
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score around a butt, but then she'd probably brushed me back, you know,
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I would hope. So yeah, I know this much. If she's
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anything like the girl I've seen pitching at Bothel High School, you and I
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are him for some serious trouble because, oh my goodness like it. And
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I've been around fast pitch, you know. But when you see it all
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of a sudden, you haven't seen it in say, ten years, and
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all's in your around it, you just kind of go, oh, yeah,
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oh yeah, not right. It's uh, not only is it fast,
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but it's close, like real close, and it's coming from the knee,
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you know what I mean. It's you and I are used to over
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the top like it's totally different. Yeah, totally different, but uh yeah,
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I don't know. We got to make that happen sometime. It'll be
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fun. Let's see here, we need to give a thank you to Kurt
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Mayberry Farm, the fourth generation family owned and operated a berry farm. They
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are back on board with Wakam Preps, so awesome to have them around.
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They are also committed to growing the highest quality berries strawberries, blueberries, raspberries.
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Tyler's got like an eighty five pound bucket or something waiting for me.
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I'm gonna come get it one of these days. But you can visit their
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website Kurtmayberry Farm dot com. That's Kurt with a C, M A B
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E r R Y farm dot com. Tyler, we've got a new fast
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pitch sponsor here. Man Insurance doing scoreboards. You can find them seven to
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one at nine and Grover Street in Lyndon at three six zero nine two two
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zero one four nine their website. MANA Insurancegroup dot com, m A n
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n A Insurance Group dot com. Uh the green button, Tyler, Well,
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yeah, that's where a guy Blake Whitman works, right, that's right,
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Yeah, and of course that is the Blake whipment sound. But it's
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so cool. There's a ton of former athletes that work there, which is
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a really cool deal. Uh and and it's you know, they all get
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along really well and they all are very supportive of Walkom County, you know,
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sports, and it's a really cool deal. So you think the owner,
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like on their on their website, if you go to Man Insurance Group
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dot com and you scroll down, there's like a picture where it's got like
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everybody standing there. You think the owner effort goes, hey she was all
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state and softball she was all State. Oh and Whitman. Yeah, I
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mean they're they're pretty good friends. I'm sure you would joke around a little
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bit like that. Yeah. Oh hey, by the way, second sponsor
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for fast Pitch. We've got sponsors for everything going on now, not everything,
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they're still sponsorships available. We'll talk about that in a second. But
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weekly stats by line that Drive Northwest. Now, you say to me,
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line Drive Northwest, I don't know exactly what that means. So I go
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to their website line drive NW dot com and they are a batting cage tyler
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you and I I think we're both probably huge fans of batting cages. I
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mean, I know I am, but I would assume you are too.
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I would think you and I both probably grew up kind of doing a lot
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of the same things, and batting cages was a big part of it.
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Oh, I loved it. That was just the coolest thing. And and
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it was kind of rare up here. When I was a kid, there
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was a place up in Canada that you could go to really yeah, and
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so you know, but I would go up there maybe on a with a
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birthday party with a group of people, and and that was that was awesome.
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They had you know, batting cages, the speed toss and the and
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the go kart track and stuff like that. But but then, you know,
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probably twenty five years ago, I started seeing some like right when I
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got out of high school, and that was awesome. And you start playing
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softball and and then you you kind of go from the from the baseball batting
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gauge the softball batting cauge, you know, and slow and it's just it's
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so fun. I mean, you could if you're if you're you know,
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if you want to work on stuff, you want to you know, try
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hitting the other way. It was a great thing to do. Or if
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you were just not in a good mood, that was a great place to
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go and just just rip the ball and and uh, you know, take
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out your frustration that way. I always when I was a kid, I
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was either I would go run or I would play the drums. Those were
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two ways I would just you know, get my frustration out and uh.
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But then as I got older, it was I'm going to go to the
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batting gauges. And it's a great way, and it's a good workout and
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it's a great way to work on things too. So this is a really
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cool deal. Uh So I'm just looking at their website really quickly. Cages
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one and two. I don't know the difference between one and two and then
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three four, five and six, but cages one and two seventy five dollars
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an hour. Cage is three, four, five and six fifty dollars an
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hour. That seems pretty reasonable to me. I mean, when you're talking
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about how much hitting you could get in in an hour, that's a lot
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of it. I would assume maybe the extra twenty five is maybe a you
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got a pitching machine. Maybe maybe cage is three, four, five,
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and six, or you know you're throwing VP to somebody or something. I
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don't know, but I can tell you this much. They've got availabilities.
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I'm looking at stuff. The one thing they don't have, Tyler. According
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to their website, they don't have a phone number, but you can contact
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them booking at line drive NW dot com or visit them in person two zero
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five to nine West Main Street, Sweet Seat in Linden. So Man Insurance
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and line Drive Northwest on board for spring sports or for softball, for fast
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pitch. I mean, this is huge. They're gonna be doing the weekly
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stats, Man Insurance doing the scoreboard, so you're gonna see a lot of
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Line Drive Northwest and Man Insurance their logos all over the website because and the
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social media, because there's a lot of stuff that there's going to be coming
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out for them. So that being said, Tyler, if somebody wants to
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sponsor on the baseball side, we already talked about that. J e KK
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Sports cards, they're on board. We know Stoffer Insurance is on board.
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There's a lot of sponsors that are going on right now. But there's still
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stuff available. So how about this, Tyler, give me, what's your
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if if you were a business right now, what is like the one thing
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that if somebody called you and said, hey, I want to get on
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board, what's the best thing you got available? What is It? Might
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be the soccer scoreboard that's really taken off because there's only been a few of
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them, and people are so excited that I'm covering soccer in the spring.
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It's getting a ton of traffic. Uh, you know a lot of comments
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on Facebook. When I posted it on Instagram, it's getting more likes than
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the other scoreboards. I think that people are just excited that I'm branching out.
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It is bringing a new a new group of parents into it and kids,
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and and it's without a it's without a sponsor right now. So I'd
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say the boys soccer scoreboard might be the biggest thing right now. Also,
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the daily recaps that every single day writing about the baseball games and the fast
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pitch games and the soccer games from the night before. Uh, those those
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are open too, So uh, there's a lot of stuff available. And
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yeah, and the daily recaps should also be mentioned that Like, so when
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you put out the picture of the daily recap and it's it's a picture of
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give me a baseball player. Yeah, like early like the first one was
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Casey Newton pitch. There it is Casey Newton pitching. If if you were
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to sponsor it, and Tyler's got your logo, you could put that on
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the graphic that gets put out and it'll take you to the website, right
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And on the website, it's going to be on there because it's going to
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be the blah blah blah, you know, the you know Kurt Mayberry Farm
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baseball recap, you know what I mean, And it'll be everywhere. Yeah,
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and people can click on it and take it to their to your website
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and yeah and so yeah, it's it's a it's available and uh yeah,
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it'd be awesome. Lots of stuff going on. If they want to get
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ahold of you, Tyler, it's mister underscore mohawk at hotmail dot com.
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Or I still think the easiest way is probably just go to any of the
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social media's and just direct message the social media. Tyler will get the notification.
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He'll get you taken care of that being said, Tyler, we've got
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ten teams to talk about here. Just like baseball, everybody's playing softball We're
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gonna start out and we're gonna go in alphabetical order, just like we did
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last time. Bellingham the BayHawks, coached by Kaylee Anderson. Last year a
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struggle oh to twenty one last year. They do return five key players,
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Tyler, is what you're showing me here now? You were kind of telling
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me some stuff off there about Bellingham struggled, But it's kind of going maybe
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in a little bit more of a right direction now. They kind of didn't
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have a program at one point, and so it sounds like things are maybe
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trending up, even though they are just coming off a winless season. Yeah,
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they're they're definitely trending up. I mean, there was a there was
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a pocket there where there was Bellingham didn't feel the varsity team they just didn't
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have enough players. And so some players would go and play at Squalicum stuff
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like that, and uh and there, and and they came and they you
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know, they didn't have a coach, they just didn't have a program.
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Uh. Kaylie Anderson was a was a star player at Squalicum. Uh she
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was, you know, just very very recently. And then when she went
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to go play in college, there was I think that was like when COVID
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hit it just everything just kind of everything just kind of fell apart. And
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then she got into coaching and she's taking over the Belliant program and just building
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it from from the ground up again. And last year was a really tough
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year to kind of get it back going. And uh but they had,
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you know there, there was some key moments there, and yeah, they
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they returned a handful of players that that did pretty well last year. Sammy
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Stormo, Uh, she hit four sixty seven last year and had a home
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run. I mean, she is a legit player that they're going to really
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rely on. Uh. She six hundred you know there, I mean she
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she really is gonna be their like their big time key player. Ag okipinte
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Is she hit two ninety three, had nine rbiyes. Uh, So they're
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you know, you're getting some players that have done some things. Tarren Hamner
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hit three twenty. She had a triple bron win justin Uh. You know,
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she she played quite a bit. Uh had had five hits. Uh
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two RBIs and and Laura and Laura Porter same same type of deal. And
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those are the five that have the most varsty experience. What's gonna be tricky
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is is who's gonna pitch? And Bronwin Justin did pitch a little bit last
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year, but uh, but they lose their their other two pitchers that pitch
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the most, So that's gonna be the trickiest thing. And that's always kind
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of the big big thing in fast pitch anyways, is is is Uh,
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if you got a pitcher, then you could go a long way. Now,
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this this is also me saying I don't know anything about the freshman class
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in any of these teams, so they could be bringing up a pitcher that's
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lights out that I have no clue about. So this is I'm just talking
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about like players that played last year on the varsity team and stuff like that.
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So, uh that's always a very exciting thing. I'll go out to
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a game and I'll see some freshmen that I've never heard of that are just
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amazing and that's always really fun. And we talked about that with baseball as
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well, so uh so we'll see with with Bellingham. They haven't played any
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games yet, so but I'm excited to see how they do. I really
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do think that they're gonna they're gonna turn the corner here pretty pretty quickly.
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I mean, here's the thing, Tyler. If if there's a freshman that
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comes in and she's you know, really throwing the throwing the ball around and
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doing good things, we're gonna talk about her because we've got to spring sports
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weekly wrap ups. Oh exactly. We will learn fast and then and then
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those names will be brought up quickly, and before you know it, you'll
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be saying you can do wind mill dunks, and the coaches will be hitting
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us up, saying, hey, slow down a little there, by the
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way. Bron Win Justin, Yeah, what a great name. Yeah,
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that is a great I mean, you know what it sounds like. You
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ever watched like Walker, Texas Ranger, Right, yeah, I could see
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like if he had a female sidekick, it'd be it'd be bron Win Justin.
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Like that, that name just sounds powerful, you know what I mean?
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Yeah, it does like that. That's a that's a really cool name.
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Like right now, all all all league name team right now. Definitely,
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let's talk about Blaine the Border Rights twenty one and four, last year
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Northwest Conference champs, fourth and state coach Sean Miller. They do normally,
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when you have a season like that, you're gonna lose a lot, right,
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Yeah, they returned six key returners. Here is what you got for
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me, Tyler, And I recognize a couple of names here, especially two
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of these last names, because I know a football player that's got these last
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names. But other than that, who are these girls and what do we
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need to know about the Blaine border rights? Yeah, and then they did
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graduate some big time key players that are going off and playing. But they
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they return some big time players too, So it's you know, it's kind
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of a you know, I don't know if they can win the conference again,
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but I believe that they think that they can. I think that they
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have a ton of confidence after last year. I mean, being a one
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A team and winning the Northwest Conference that has two A and three A teams
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in it. That's huge. That's huge, and that's and that was you
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know. Then they go and they win the district championship in an epic game
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against Mount Baker eight to seven game winning run with the walk off there.
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That was. That was one of the best games I saw all year.
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They go to State, they get to the semi finals and then they met
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some really tough teams there, and that's just what happens when you get the
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state. But but boy, Sean Miller has done a great job. I
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remember interviewing him. I want to say it was his first or second year
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when he came in and he was talking about this class coming up and you
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know, the class before and this one and how it was just like like
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yeah, he goes and they were winning like three four games a year and
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he's like, we will turn things around. I guarantee you we will.
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We will turn things around. And he was so serious about it. And
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to see it happen and to see it from the beginning to now has just
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been amazing, and the support with the community has been great. But yeah,
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I you know, uh, Emerson Baker is a stud I mean last
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year she went sixteen and three. She struck out two hundred and thirty seven
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batters in one hundred and twenty one innings. Wow. So yeah, so
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you're talking maybe I don't want to hit against her. You're talking about close
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to to an inning. And at one point he got too coming up because
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you and right right a one point eight five era. And she also had
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a couple of saves too, So there was a couple of games that she
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didn't pitch and that she came in late and got the save. So uh,
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I mean, that's incredible. Just a great, great year last year.
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I believe she won Pitcher of the Year and so she's she's back and
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she can hit too, very good at using all the fields. That's one
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thing I really remember is seeing line drives to right field, which tells me
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a lot about a hitter where you know, a lot of times a power
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hitter, you know, you either see a shot down the left field line
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or you roll it over, you know, and because they're trying to pull
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everything. But she's she's not like that at all. She she had a
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couple of home runs. She had seventeen RB eyes. Jaylee Daniels is a
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great, great player. She hit four forty last year, two triples,
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a home run, eighteen RB eyes. Jordan Vezzetti, who you know,
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we talked about a lot on the basketball court, she hit three home runs
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last year. She hit two seventy two nineteen rby eyes, Bella. Vezzetti
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hit two fifty. Mason Poles, who was a freshman last year that kind
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of came onto the team late for defensive you know, purposes and stuff like
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that. I think she's gonna be become a really really good player. And
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and Taya Zaddik, who's a senior who's going to Western Washington University to play
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volleyball. Uh, but she's she's here. She's gonna be there playing first
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base. She hit three hundred last year. So you got a good group
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here that have been playing together for a while. You have some youth as
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well. Masa Poulse just a sophomore. And and coach Miller is just he's
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become a winner and he's he's got the girls believing. And you know,
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the big thing will be you know, they had a really good catcher last
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year and that goes a long way with Emerson as a pitcher and McKenna Wright
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she graduated. Who's going to be the catcher this year? Is it going
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to be Shay Daniels. I think she's the player that I would kind of
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lean on to do it. But she's a great overall player that could play
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a lot of positions. She ends up doing it. How quickly does she
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adapt? How is the connection with her and Emerson? And that's going to
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be a big, big part of it. And that's a that's the focal
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point that I'm gonna want to see how does that how does that begin the
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season early on, and then how does it improve as the season goes on.
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So it's gonna be a it's gonna be a really good year for the
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Border Rights, I believe. Let's move on and talk about Ferndale. The
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Golden Eagles seven and thirteen last year under head coach of Brittany Aredondo. Uh
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six returning players key returners this year, Tyler, And as I look it
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over here, I see some names I recognize last names especially, but this
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looks like a pretty pretty good group here for the Golden Eagles. Yeah,
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I think that there they'll be improved. You know last year going seven and
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thirteen, I think they're gonna go above five hundred this year. It's it's
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always been a group that's that's kind of been right in the middle of the
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pack, and they'll have some good years every once in a while. And
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it was a little bit down last year. But like I said, I
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think they'll be okay. You know, a lot of the Stadget County teams
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are very good, and that's that's one thing to mention is that you know,
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the Lakewoods, the Anacordus is the Uh you know, they they have
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some really really good teams, so you kind of you know, the records
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can be deceiving a little bit because, uh, I mean Burlington is fantastic.
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I mean there there's there's always some really good squads down there. But
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but Fernial returns some stars. Calen Caylen Blakely is a great, great player
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that again is one of those players that could play all over the field.
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Uh star ketch all bunch last year and probably do that again. She hit
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five home runs, twenty eight RBIs she hit four fifty one. Uh,
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just a just a great all around player that you know, you're not gonna
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want to steal on her, you know, like she's she's legit. She's
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really good. Mallory Button shown man. We've been talking about her a lot
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this whole year, with the with volleyball, with basketball. I think I
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believe she's going to college for multiple sports and and now here she is on
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the softball team. Uh, she's gonna be She's probably gonna be their main
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pitcher. She she her and Peyton Akers went back and forth last year.
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Both pitched around fifty innings and she struck out fifty eight batters. And fifty
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innings. Her ERA was three point nine eight, so pretty good. Uh,
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so she'll be she'll be the main player in the circle and take take
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taking care of that. Uh. But she she can hit as well.
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Uh she had three twenty eight last year, had a home run fifteen RBIs
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so uh just a great overall athlete and a and a just an awesome human
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being in person and leader and those kinds of things. So that's really nice
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to have. Uh. Taliah Lockers is extremely fast. Uh. I think
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that she'll be. She she's been on the team for a while. She's
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gonna contribute quite a bit. Uh slice castle Berry. Uh, you know,
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she's got a she's got a bunch of uh really good experience. And
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the big thing about her was last year she walked thirteen times and struck just
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five times. And so I love that. I you know, you see
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someone that can recognize a pitch early on and do something about it. Lavina
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Lauan Uh she hit a home run last year as well. She she kind
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of came on late as a power hitter and and I think she's gonna be
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she has more confidence now probably going into it and and moving up the lineup.
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Uh, and then and Hannah Hannah Swan has a lot of experience too,
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So those are kind of the main six. Again, I don't know
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about freshmen, but I really like some of these some of these top players,
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these top end players for Ferndale. Uh. They did very well in
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their in their uh in their jamboree last Saturday. Uh, So I think
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that, you know, I think that's gonna give them a little boost to
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go on. And I think, you know, I think they beat squall
21:51
come and see them pretty handedly and uh, and we'll see how they go.
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And I think, like I said, I think they're gonna be above
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five hundred. I think they're gonna be a little better than they were last
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year. But once you get into the postseason and being three A, that's
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a tall task. So uh but if they start connecting and start doing things
22:07
the right way, they'll be they'll be just fine throughout the season and then
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get into see what they can do in the postseason. Let's talk Lyndon Lions.
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They made it to state last year under head coach Ed Bamer. Still
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crazy to me that like the two the two guys I think of as like
22:25
old school hard nos football coaches are both softball coaches. And by the way,
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I keep calling it softball, and I hate that I do that because
22:33
it's fast pitch, right, Like, yeah, yeah, there is a
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there is a difference. People are just gonna have to accept it. I'm
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gonna screw that up all year, Like I know, I'm gonna hopefully by
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like week five, I'll have it down to where I don't say softball anymore.
22:45
But I mean it's the same ball, you know what I mean.
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Yeah, yeah, that's what's hard for me. But yeah, last year
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seventeen and nine, and uh, seems like lynden In like all sports finds
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a way to return a lot of people. Eight key returners is what you
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have listed here, Tyler. Yeah, this is gonna be a really dynamic
23:04
team. Uh. They also returned their pitcher, Trinity Andrew, who is
23:10
just just amazing, really really enjoyed watching her pitch. She went twelve and
23:17
seven last year, struck out one hundred and twenty three batters and one hundred
23:19
and seven innings three point one four e ra Melanie Anderson can pitch as well.
23:26
She went four and one, and so it's nice to always have another
23:29
pitcher just in case that other player doesn't have it that that night, you
23:33
know that, and that can happen. So they have a couple that that
23:37
do really really well. Melanie actually played on when I had my walking Preps
23:42
slow pitch co ed team. Yeah, she played on that. She was
23:45
just my goodness. That was summer before her, like after her freshman year
23:51
in high school, I think, And she played on that, and yeah,
23:55
her older sister, Riley is really really good. She's she's playing for
23:59
Western right now and she so, yeah, you wanted her. And then
24:04
it was like, oh, by the way, sister's pretty good too.
24:07
Well. Yeah, Well it's weird with co ed because you have to have
24:10
the exact amount of boys and girls, yeah, to play, to play
24:12
a game or else it's an automatic out in the lineup. And there were
24:15
times when it's like, oh, I need I need one more female player.
24:18
I have to have one. And so I'd asked Riley like, hey,
24:22
can your sister play absolutely boom great you know and us So yeah,
24:26
I think, And I think she wore my cleats because she didn't know that
24:30
she because she yeah, because she didn't know that she couldn't wear metal,
24:33
you know. Uh. But yeah, so there's a lot of talent on
24:37
this team, a ton of talent, especially offensively as well. Casey Thomas,
24:42
she's already signed to go play softball in college. She hit four eighty
24:45
one last year, seven home runs, thirty seven RBIs. She'll be she'll
24:51
probably be the catcher. She was kind of splitting it last year with Grace
24:55
Potter. They both catch and play third. Grace is graduated, she's going
24:57
playing. She's playing college down in California now, so, uh so,
25:03
Casey Thomas will kind of take over that spot. Campbell de Young just a
25:06
freshman last year, really good second second baseman and a leadoff hitter. She
25:11
hit four twenty five last year. Uh Childrey d youngs it was a center
25:17
fielder. She hit four home runs thirty two RBIs hit three ninety three.
25:21
We talked about Trinity Andrew as a pitcher. Really good hitter as well.
25:23
She hit three eighty three with four home runs. I mean, you're you
25:26
start talking about this power here, it's it's pretty incredible. Melanie Anderson,
25:32
uh you know, she was the one that played softball with me. She's
25:34
and she hit three seventy. She hit a home run too last year.
25:37
She's a left handed hittered it does that slap hit you know, yeah and
25:41
got Yes, She's got that down pretty well. So it's kind of cool
25:45
that she she hit one out last year. Sierra Alexanders, she hit it
25:48
out on the slap like no, no, no, no, I was
25:52
gonna say that would be really impressive, right, yeah. No, It's
25:55
just it's rare that that those types of players like have the actually and also
26:00
have the power to hit one out at the same time, you know,
26:03
you know, and uh, Sierra Alexander, Uh, she had a couple
26:07
of home runs last year fifteen RBIs two seventy four. Uh. Her dad,
26:11
Dante was an amazing player that I will never want to face again in
26:15
the batter's box because he threw in the nineties. Uh. And Rebecca Powell's
26:21
another player that returns that she hit four twenty nine last year. So there's
26:25
a lot of players that that racked up close to one hundred at bats each
26:29
last year. And that for a team that made the state tournament. And
26:33
they they always seem to make the state tournament. And and you know,
26:37
coach Barmber's got that's just got that machine going and uh, it's so fun
26:42
talking to him about fast pitching because it's it's it's kind of his time to,
26:48
you know, ease up a little bit. I guess, so how
26:52
it's say it because he's not he's not he's not yelling at young men.
26:55
I mean he's instructing young women and he's and and he's really good at it
26:59
and and the players love them and and uh, it's it's it's a fun
27:03
atmosphere to go to those practices. I've been to a few of them and
27:08
just kind of the way things go and you just kind of smile and go,
27:12
yeah, this is this is Lindon. This is It's spread throughout all
27:15
the sports where there is, uh, there is a goal, there's a
27:22
I'm trying to think what the word is. There's a expectation exactly and and
27:26
and but there's hard work and you know they're going to achieve everything that they
27:33
can. And it's you know, it's it is what it is, and
27:37
it's it's always really really strong program and and I expect them to be even
27:42
better a lot than there were last year. They're probably place state. I'm
27:45
really excited to see what they do this year. Well, if you talk
27:51
Linden, next up is Lyndon Christian sixteen and thirteen last year for the Lady
27:55
Lynx state appearance under her UH coach Tom Zilstra Tyler. Five returning key returners
28:03
here for the links. What do we got here? I mean, I
28:07
recognize one last name, but it probably doesn't mean nearly as much as most
28:10
of them do. Yeah. Well, it's last year's team was loaded with
28:15
seniors, a lot of really good players, and they were kind of that
28:22
third team where only two spots could go to state, and and Blaine and
28:29
Baker were ahead. They play each other for the district championship game. Blaine
28:34
wins, Baker goes down, and they have to win out to get to
28:38
state still even though they lost the district championship game, and then lynnin Christian
28:42
got him and it was, you know, it was like oh okay.
28:47
So then Lyndon Christian got that second spot to state and then they go and
28:51
they win a game at State. So they kind of caught fire late.
28:55
But now you know, a lot of those players have graduated. I want
28:59
to say seven starters were seniors last year, seven of the nine so and
29:06
so it's it's it's tough to say, but then what I've been hearing is
29:10
that there's a really good freshman class now, so you know it's gonna start
29:15
to turn over again. But there are some returners. Cassidy Van Sost was
29:18
a left handed hitter, right handed pitcher that uh that she got into a
29:23
few and she hit four home runs, hit three ninety five last year.
29:26
She was batting like seventh in the lineup. But she's gonna be there three
29:30
hitter this year. And uh, she's just very tall, strong, like
29:36
prototypical fast pitch pitcher, you know what I mean. Uh, And she
29:41
threw one hundred and sixty three innings last year, which I think was the
29:44
most in Walkham County. Struck out one hundred and twenty three a four point
29:48
six oh era. You know, the team went sixteen and thirteen last year.
29:52
That was her win loss record. Uh, it's you know, she
29:56
was the workhorse and she's gonna do it again. I got to see her
30:00
pitched a little bit yet last night and you know, looked great, got
30:04
the win, So everything's looking pretty good there. Taylor Craig is a younger
30:10
player that she came out late last year, played some first base and and
30:15
you could tell that she has a lot of potential. I think this year
30:18
she's gonna she's gonna be one of the bigger power better power hitters in the
30:22
league. Last year she hit three nineteen and limited appearances did have nine RBIs.
30:29
I think, you know, she'll be the cleanup hitter, first baseman.
30:33
She's I expect some pretty good things there. Test van Low hit three
30:37
thirteen last year and and a lot the rest of these pairs were you know,
30:41
they were coming off the bench. Added Addied Young in limited spots played
30:45
pretty well, but she had a great game yesterday. Hannah Hannah Turpstra,
30:49
same type of deal. I think she'll probably get moved into the leadoff spot.
30:53
So it's it's a lot of players that were right on the cusp last
30:56
year playing quite a bit that are gonna be thrust it into a big time
31:00
spots top of the lineup, where a lot of those freshmen will fill the
31:03
bottom half of the lineup. And I'm excited to see that class how it
31:07
goes. But the one thing that you know, yeah, they graduated a
31:10
lot of players, but your pitcher came back, and that's such a big
31:12
deal going forward that it's going to help a lot of the younger players,
31:17
and uh, it's exciting to see how they'll do. They put up a
31:22
ton of runs yesterday. Uh but you know, they walked sixteen times and
31:26
so that kind of clogged the bases and and uh so and and they just
31:32
kind of picked up runs that way. I think they only played three innings.
31:34
But uh, yeah, it's I expect some pretty some pretty good things.
31:38
But you know what it's I'm going to get into this now. I
31:41
found out that there will only be one state birth from the one A teams.
31:47
Are you fating me? Yeah, it's it's a it's a it.
31:52
You know. It's because other districts won't won't glue with them and all these
31:55
things. And so now the district tournament will just be the five to one
31:59
A teams. And we're talking these are five good teams. I'm not saying
32:02
they're all state caliber, but I'm gonna say three of them are. And
32:07
now you're only gonna get one. Well, the two that we've talked about
32:10
or excuse me, we've only talked Yeah, two, the two we've talked
32:14
about already. We're state participants last year. Yeah, we're state participants,
32:17
and and both have you know, probably enough to at least make a make
32:22
a what's the word I'm looking for, like make an argument to be in
32:24
this year, right, all all all five teams are returning their pitchers and
32:30
that's huge, and so it's it's gonna be interesting. There is gonna there
32:34
are going and this is a kind of a neat deal. There's gonna be
32:37
a thing in mid April where all five teams are going down to Walla,
32:40
Walla with I think eleven other Top one A teams from the state, and
32:47
they're playing like they're gonna be like like this tournament where they play in pods
32:52
and they're gonna play like a couple of games Friday, a couple of games
32:54
Saturday type thing, and you play everybody in your pod, and there's gonna
32:59
be like Royal and you know, Montsano, and it's like all the top
33:02
one A fast pit teams are gonna be down there like a show kinda yeah,
33:07
and so they're gonna and it's gonna bump up their RPIs and stuff like
33:10
that to see and then they're and then they're gonna show, oh, only
33:14
one team here, look at how good these other teams are. So so
33:17
that'll be I'm really excited about that tournament that all these teams just kick the
33:22
crap out of everybody else. Yeah, so it's it's gonna be it's gonna
33:28
be cool. I mean, it's one of those things where I might head
33:29
down there and see because there's gonna be five teams down there playing two games
33:31
each. So, uh, that might be a pretty cool deal. I
33:35
think it's I think it's kind of mid April, so I just learned about
33:39
this a couple of days ago. But yeah, it's it's gonna be a
33:43
tough thing. I didn't know when I was gonna bring all this up in
33:45
this podcast, but uh, it's it's something that you just prepped me for
33:49
this, and now I'm sitting over here for steaming. I know, I
33:51
know, I apologize for that. Well, Tyler, it's the biggest key
33:54
to all of this. All you're doing is failing the student athletes, is
33:58
what you're doing, which is what the w i AA and the districts they're
34:02
supposed to be here to support all of this, and they're not. I
34:06
mean, it's just the plain and simple of it. I Mean, there's
34:08
not much else I even want to say about it, Like it's just it's
34:10
ridiculous. I don't even know where we're at now, Tyler, Meridian,
34:19
all right, Meridian ten to twelve last year under coach Megan Roles. Now,
34:24
Tyler, you got some parentheses here under the coach's name. What's going
34:30
on there? So I just want to make sure everyone knows it's not a
34:32
new head coach. It's still the same head coach. She got married in
34:37
the off season. So uh so Megan Monahan, it was who it used
34:39
to be now Megan Roles, So she's uh, she's been the coach for
34:44
a while, and so she is. She is back. They return a
34:50
lot of players. They had one senior. Last year. It was a
34:53
little bit of a it was a you know, about a five hundred year
34:58
They had to play a play game to get to the district tournament, in
35:01
which they they they crushed. Uh I think it was sultanw they played,
35:06
and then they got that. They got to the district tournament and you know,
35:09
they bowed out there. But I really like their team. I knew
35:13
they were young. Like I said, they had one senior, Emily Cole
35:15
just she played, she played first and third. But so many players return
35:22
now now I did notice there was a couple of players that aren't aren't coming
35:24
out this year, but for the most part, they have some really good
35:28
returners. Crady Crazy Katie Kreignaman is she's been she's a senior now. She
35:36
is hitched almost every inning since she was a freshman. And uh it's been
35:40
impressive to see because early on it was it was rough. I mean it
35:45
was a you know, they it was a struggling team, and you know,
35:47
she would go like six and fourteen and her era was like in the
35:51
sevens, and then it just started getting better and better and better. And
35:54
as the season wore on. Last year, I mean, she just she
35:57
just got better and better. And I'm really excited to see what she does.
36:02
She went eight and twelve last year, struck out, struck out one
36:05
hundred and three batters and only walked eighteen batters. That's yes, that was
36:10
that was her walk to Her strikeout to walk ratio was second best in walking
36:15
county. So, uh so she does throw strikes. I remember in that
36:20
Sultan game she didn't throw a ball into like the fourth inning. Wow,
36:24
I mean that's incredible, that is that is unbelievable, like that I remember,
36:30
Yeah, Crazy I remember interviewing her after the game and I told her
36:34
that, and I don't think that she even realized. She just she just
36:37
attacks, you know, yeah, right, she was in the moment,
36:40
and so really good hitter too. Hit four fifty two last year, one
36:45
home run, twenty two RBIs, eight doubles, two triples, so she'll
36:49
be kind of a big time focal point. Sidney ten Clay is another player
36:52
that can pitch for sure, but she got hurt early in the year last
36:57
year and missed the rest of the season. I mean, she was two
37:00
to o last year with eight strikeouts and just one walk before the injury.
37:05
She was also hitting five eighty three. Uh when she got hurt again,
37:08
it was really early on she only had uh, she only had twelve at
37:13
bats. But I think that that's another player that could really help in those
37:17
in those her with her seven hits, six of them were doubles. So
37:22
we're talking a big time hitter that is just kind of added now to this
37:25
lineup that was missed for ninety percent of the year last year. So that's
37:30
another big time player. And then you round it out with like Maddi Ritter,
37:34
who had six doubles a triple fourteen. RBIs hit two ninety four last
37:37
year. Haley Horseman is a shortstop, really really good player, really fast,
37:43
two seventy nine hitter, four doubles. Natalie Schultz two forty six hitter.
37:49
Uh. These are all players that were starters all year. Lorelei Marguson
37:53
she hit two twenty two, had eight RBIs also had eight walks. Lexi
37:58
Neil hit three seven seventy one last year. And Josie Samara, who was
38:04
kind of a defensive specialists, would come off the bench sometimes would pinch run
38:07
and she'll probably be in the starting lineup this year. I think this team
38:10
is going to be vastly improved. You know. I like, I like
38:15
the coach, I like the players. I think that they're gonna sneak up
38:19
on some teams. They're gonna steal some wins and we'll see. But like
38:22
I said, just that one birth of state is a is a crusher,
38:27
But once you eventually all get into district tournaments, you just never know what's
38:30
going to happen. And I think I think they are poised for a good
38:32
one this year. Let's oh Ron Lepper from Mount Baker High School. That's
38:38
where we're at here, Tyler, Yep, we're at Malvin Baker fifteen to
38:44
nine. Last year were the Mountaineers. How long has Leeb been the head
38:49
coach of the softball team? You know? Wow? Like twenty right a
38:54
little bit? Probably over twenty years. I think there was one year where
39:00
he wasn't the coach and then he came back kind of in the middle there.
39:02
Okay, so now tell me this, how many years is the head
39:06
football coach? Head football coach? Ninety six was his first year, so
39:12
like twenty seven, okay, And how about wrestling? Ninety five was his
39:19
first year, but he stepped away for a few years as well, so
39:22
right around twenty seven. I wan, are we getting close to like one
39:24
hundred years or one hundred seasons of a head coach here? And what are
39:28
you talking? Yeah, it's well, let's just say, let's just say
39:31
an average twenty five would be seventy five, so probably not. Yeah,
39:36
But he also coached a bunch like as a head coach in California. There
39:39
was a story that's right that there was a story that Connor Benintendi wrote for
39:45
Cascadia Daily News like a year ago where it talked about him coaching one hundred
39:51
seasons. It has passed already, not in Woking County, but in his
39:59
career. Yeah, it's it is incredible. It's Lemons. Oh yeah,
40:09
right, you're set me up for that one. And and the Lemons comment
40:14
originated at the State Fast Pitch Tournament a few years ago. That's right,
40:17
I forget. So this all this all works out quite a bit. It
40:22
is. It is a it's a stalwart program. Uh, it's they have
40:28
not had a down year in a while. Last year it didn't finish the
40:31
way they wanted to. I think they had aspirations of doing damage at State.
40:36
It just didn't happen. There were some injuries and it just kind of
40:42
fell apart there at the end. But they are bringing a lot of players
40:47
back that are very, very good. And it starts with a with Ava
40:52
Jaretzky. Uh. She's been a star since she was a freshman. She's
40:55
a senior now. Last year she led Walking County with ten home runs.
41:00
I believe she led with fifty four RBIs she hit five sixty and just talk
41:07
about like a presence at the play, a threat to go deep every time.
41:13
She's also the pitcher went fourteen and eight a three point zero three era
41:16
struck out one hundred and thirty eight batters. Uh she has she has,
41:22
you know, League MVP written all over, you know, like one of
41:25
those types of players. Uh. So that's a huge thing to have in
41:30
your back pocket. Gracie Zender is a power hitting catcher. She started hitting
41:35
bombs right away as a freshman. She's going into her junior year now.
41:38
She hit five twenty six last year with six home runs forty one RBIs like,
41:45
yeah, like I said, this is a this is a team that
41:46
you know. I I think I went to a game against Knoksak and Nuksack
41:52
was pretty good and they it was the score was like thirty one to eight.
41:55
I was just like, and I you know, coach is like k
42:00
Nooksas got a really powerful offense. He goes, you have to pour it
42:01
on against them because they could come back at any time. I'm like,
42:05
thirty one. You know, it's impressive. Annie Lee Cone great, great
42:12
leadoff hitter. Was she number fifty in the top fifty countdown for volleyball?
42:17
Yes she was, Yes, she was. I only know that because that's
42:20
the only graphic I made for that. Yeah, because you get it started
42:23
and then I go from there. That's true. Yeah, she hit five
42:27
twenty three last year, eleven doubles, two triples, twenty nine RBIs.
42:31
In her one hundred and five plate appearances she struck out four times. I
42:37
mean, wow, crazy and uh yeah. Then Lauren Lauren Vollum, she
42:45
hit four twenty nine, one home run, twenty nine RBIs. It's crazy.
42:51
I mean, like, her grandpa was my little league coach, you
42:53
know, so I love seeing him at games and it's just like it brings
42:57
me back because he's like my first like my first of her coach or anything,
43:00
and and I just I could talk baseball with him forever. Ella mololy
43:06
Is is extremely athletic. She hit four fifty last year. You recognize the
43:10
last name there of lololy Zeta Haynes came in last year and played third base
43:15
as a freshman and did a really really good job. And it was it
43:20
was she took the place of an injured player and and and did great.
43:23
And now that injured player's back, Kennedy Rathchin. So it'll be interesting to
43:29
see who gets moved around into what spots. There might be a first base
43:32
spot open, and then and Maddie Junkquist is the is kind of the pitcher
43:37
after Ava, so if something's going wrong, Maddie can come in. I
43:42
mean she pitched in the district championship game and did did pretty well. And
43:45
so they have kind of all the pieces. And you know, I've covered
43:50
them at the state tournament multiple times. I went to the state tournament last
43:52
year when they didn't make it, but it just felt weird that they weren't
43:55
there again with this that one seed, it's gonna be it's gonna be a
44:00
fight that district tournament. And I don't even know where it's gonna be because
44:04
it used to be down at Sea Drow. You know, there's no reason
44:07
to play it at Seed Drow. Now, no teams from you know,
44:09
Granite Falls and South Woldby and those teams aren't coming up. So I it's
44:15
gonna be interesting to see where that's gonna be. But that's gonna be a
44:17
hole, cow, that's gonna be a battle. That tournament's gonna be amazing.
44:22
And uh, build a field in your backyard, Tyler, give it
44:27
to them for free. Yeah right, yeah, my whole my whole backyard
44:30
of like twelve square feet but lots of Dingers going on. You got that
44:37
right. But Matt Baker, uh is gonna be is gonna be one of
44:40
those one of those top teams. And and you know when they play the
44:44
Linden's and the Blades, those are gonna be games that are We're gonna it's
44:47
gonna pack the pack the house, and it's gonna be a Those are gonna
44:51
be really exciting games to watch. Those are games that you're just like,
44:53
you've got them already circled time. Oh yeah, Oh, I can't wait.
44:57
It's gonna be awesome. Let's talk nooks Back Valley. The Pioneers nine
45:00
and fourteen last year coach Tom Harmon, they returned six key returners here,
45:07
Tyler and some names I recognize from multiple sports here. Absolutely. Uh,
45:12
you know Nooksack Valley they kind of have that winning tradition now with you know,
45:15
winning state basketball. The last two years they they I think they got
45:21
sixth in state for volleyball and uh, and you're bringing a lot of these
45:27
players that played those sports. Laney Kimball, Grace Daho, Bayton Bartell,
45:30
they were on the basketball team, they were on the volleyball team. Lena
45:35
Dyksher was also on the basketball team last year. And you know, these
45:39
are players that that have a ton of offensive like they just have a lot
45:45
of firepower, like like coach Lepper said, Laney Kimball last year hit five
45:50
seventy nine, six home runs, thirty seven rbish just crazy athletic, just
45:59
you know, one of the those players. You know, she played center
46:00
field as a freshman. She got moved to third base as a sophomore.
46:05
And that and and just two years ago they won state, They won the
46:07
state tournament. Nook sected and in fast pitch, and she was a key
46:12
player on that team. And then and then she was back at third base
46:15
last year. Uh took a line drive off the foot and went back out
46:19
to center field, and she's thrown runners out from center field. I mean,
46:22
she's She's another one of those players that you could say could be a
46:27
you know, league MVP type. Elena Dikstra behind the plate four eighty eight
46:31
hitter, two home runs, thirty one RBIs. Grace de Hoague was a
46:37
player that that really came on strong. H was as naturally a first baseman,
46:43
but ended up playing third when Kimble went to the outfield. A really
46:46
really good athlete and Peyton bartell And and Keston Wegter were both freshman pitchers last
46:53
year, so they that was kind of their thing was they didn't really have
46:58
anyone that had varsity experience with pitch. They could score a lot of runs,
47:01
but you know, pitching that was tough, sou But I think they
47:07
got better as the year wore on. They're both back again, obviously to
47:10
pitch. One's left handed, one's right handed, which can be kind of
47:14
a nice thing to have every once in a while. And then and Shelby
47:15
Mason is a player who I think is gonna be a big time a big
47:20
time player that people might not have known about. But she hit over five
47:23
hundred last year. Should probably take over shobby, take over at shortstop where
47:27
Sierra Anderson was. Sierra Anderson was the was the league MVP last year,
47:31
or at least the offensive player of the year. And she she graduates,
47:37
she's playing college now, and Shelby Mason will take that spot at shortstop.
47:42
Coach Harmon's been there forever. He's been the coach since the mid eighties.
47:45
He has seen it all. I love it because they play an alumni game
47:51
that's kind of a tradition and that's a really cool deal. That's gonna be
47:54
this weekend. I'm gonna be out of town, so I'm gonna miss it.
47:58
But that's always a fun game because you see a lot of really good
48:01
players that you've seen and recently, and and you might see some blasts from
48:06
the past. The players have played back in the nineties. You never know,
48:08
and it's a really cool deal. But it's it's it's a very traditional,
48:14
you know, you know what to expect. Coachcharmon's been there forever and
48:19
and he's you know, I expect a lot of offense. If the pitching
48:22
comes around like I expect it to. Then there are another one of those
48:27
one A teams that you're like, Okay, you know, they just won
48:30
state two years ago. I mean, this is this is not a you
48:35
know, a team that's just gonna you know, flail around down there.
48:37
I think they're gonna be another improved team. And and uh again, all
48:43
five of these teams at the one A level from Walkin County, I expect
48:46
to be over five hundred. I know that doesn't make sense, but when
48:50
you're playing all these other teams as well in the conference, it's a big
48:52
conference. You know, whatever, it is, fourteen to fifteen teams,
48:58
maybe maybe sixteen. Then that's where you you know, you can get all
49:00
a lot of your other wins and stuff like that. So we'll see.
49:05
It's uh, I guess again, the whole state birth thing kind of rubs
49:09
me the wrong way. But it's gonna force all of them to play their
49:13
best, fast pitched late in the season. Now, Tyler, we're gonna
49:16
move on. We're gonna talk about Seahome two and seventeen last year under head
49:20
coach Jim Emerson. Unfortunately, we don't have a roster. We don't really
49:24
have anything because nobody ever got back to us. So do we have I
49:29
mean, what do we have? Do we have like anything from Latin?
49:32
Do you know some of the returners that were helping or playing or anything.
49:36
I don't know anything. I I you know, they were a great team
49:42
a handful of years ago, the McDowell twins, Megan Hall, you know,
49:46
Savannah Smith. They had some great, great players and then it's just
49:51
kind of fall It just kind of kept falling, and I I you know,
49:53
they're not on game changer, they're not. I haven't seen anything posted.
49:58
I've emailed the coach. I it's been it's been tough. I meant,
50:01
I wanted to go out there during they had they had they were hosting
50:06
the uh the inner Uh what's like I want to say, the Yeah,
50:14
the jamboree Jambuary that happened on Saturday, and I wanted to go out there
50:17
for that, but I was still incredibly sick, and I just wanted to
50:21
go out there and just kind of even take notes and talk to the coach
50:24
and at least get some information. But I was unable to make it out
50:28
there. So unfortunately, I don't have any information about thee Home Fast Pitch
50:32
team. It was a rough year last year, but we'll see what happens
50:37
this year. I I hope to be learning about them as as the year
50:42
goes on. I'll go out to games and I'll find out what I can,
50:45
so we could talk about them during this season. But at this point,
50:49
I don't know anything. I'm sure there'll be players that are going to
50:52
be listening and then they'll I mean, I'll get I'll get information from somebody.
50:55
I'm sure at some point after listening to this, we'll find out.
50:59
Yeah, and obviously we'll talk about them as the season shoes. But as
51:01
of right now, we just we don't have anything to talk about for sea
51:06
homes, so I guess we can. The best we can do is wish
51:07
them good luck. Yep. Let's talk squal them. Storm, the last
51:12
team here on the podcast for today eight and thirteen, last year under head
51:15
coach Amy Anderson. Three key returners, Tyler. Let's talk about the Storm.
51:21
Yeah, they graduate some big time players. Like I said that,
51:25
you know, they were under five hundred. They get to districts, they
51:29
really relied on their on their pitcher. Reagan Anderson was unbelievable, struck out
51:35
two hundred and eleven batters, walked fourteen wow, left handed. And and
51:43
then Reagan and Olivia Paoli. Olivia Paoli were like the two big time hitters
51:50
both you know, Olivia had eight home runs. They both hit over five
51:52
hundred. But they're both graduated and that was kind of the big, big
51:57
part of their team. That's what everyone tried to avoid got. They get
52:00
some runs on the pitcher and you have to avoid them. You know,
52:04
those two players scoring and if you could do that, then maybe you can
52:07
win five to two. You know what I mean. It's gonna be a
52:10
little different this year. It's a really really young team. I went out
52:15
there and saw them really struggled pitching. They had They had three different pitchers
52:20
pitch all three innings, and I think they're still still trying to find who
52:23
they're gonna use. And it's just getting that rhythm down and being consistent with
52:29
the release point and pitching strikes because they walk sixteen batters. You know,
52:32
it was the first first game of the year. I'm sure things will go
52:36
better, but it's it's gonna be tough in the beginning. Tanishia Bardsley Taylor
52:42
is kind of the player that has the most experienced coming back. She hit
52:46
two oh six last year. Alexa Haven's and and Gabby Gearhart. Gabby Gearhart
52:52
probably had a little bit more experience. She's gonna be the leadoff hitter.
52:55
But it's a lot of it's filled with new varsity players and freshmen as well,
53:00
so coach Anderson's got a lot to deal with. But if they're out
53:07
there having fun, and that's gonna be the big thing, and they keep
53:10
learning as the season goes on again, I think see Home is going to
53:14
be a team that struggles. Bellingham is still trying to find their way.
53:17
So there will be games that will be competitive in within those city teams,
53:22
I think so, And that's where they'll find out a lot of stuff.
53:25
And and but they might be a few years away right now. Losing those
53:30
players, and of course losing the pitcher Anderson is is huge and we'll just
53:37
see going going forward. And you know, I what I loved is that
53:40
they you know, they were down. They were in the field for about
53:43
an hour in the second inning and when Lindy Christian scored eighteen runs in that
53:49
inning, and but they were cheering, they were backing up throws, they
53:52
were doing all the right things. And that's what, you know, was
53:55
awesome to see. They weren't down on themselves. They weren't you know,
54:00
they weren't just looking around. They weren't complaining. That's and I loved that.
54:06
And I walked over to the skulkum side and and and was taking pictures
54:09
and stuff like that, and they understood that, you know, that's just
54:14
part of the game sometimes and that's that's hard to keep your head up.
54:17
But the coaching staff has done a great job of of you know, instructing
54:22
them, and like you still have to make sure you back up throw back
54:25
to the picture or if there's a play, if the if the if there's
54:28
a pass ball and the picture runs in, you know, to instruct the
54:30
first basement to run like kind of to back up that throw back to the
54:35
plate, you know, like stuff like that. And I love that there
54:37
was still training going on and still instruction going on. So that was that
54:43
was really really good to see, really really promising. But it's gonna be
54:46
a lot of brand new players, uh you know that don't have varsity experience
54:51
or have limited varsity experience. So uh so we'll see how it goes.
54:54
I think there'll be improven as this year year goes on, and that's that's
54:58
all you can hope for. Yeah, think that's the biggest key with with
55:01
you know, high school athletics in general, right, you just you want
55:05
to get better as the season goes and you know, you may not end
55:08
up in the state tournament, you may not even end up in the playoffs,
55:12
but as long as as long as you got better, I think that's
55:15
a that's a huge win for for the program, you know. So,
55:19
uh that's it, Tyler, We're we're done. We've talked about every team
55:22
here, what uh, what else we got anything? I don't think,
55:27
so I think again. I want to reiterate that, you know, the
55:30
teams down south are pretty durned good. Uh, you know, we don't
55:32
we don't talk about the Burlington's and the ani Chordas, the Lakewoods and stuff
55:36
like that. But Sidrow Siegdrow is great too. Man. I forgot about
55:39
them, but they will be, you know, I just don't focus on
55:45
them as much. And then all of a sudden I'll see that, like,
55:47
you know, Meridians playing at Burlington, and I'm like, oh,
55:51
that's right, Burlington's really good. So it's it's stuff like that that,
55:54
you know, I'm not really focusing on too much. I'm really focused on
55:59
the walking kind of teams. I wish them all the best of luck,
56:01
and uh, it's it's gonna be another great year. I'm looking out the
56:06
window right now. I don't know about you, but it is really sunny
56:08
out and it is really bright in my house right now. Yeah, and
56:12
so I see the sun, but it's really bright in there. Yeah.
56:15
So it's just like it's all that together is just a good feeling. I
56:20
mean, once we get done with this, I'm gonna write some stories.
56:22
I'm gonna go to a track meet. I'm gonna go to a tennis match,
56:25
I'm gonna go to baseball. I'm gonna go to a fast pitch.
56:29
I'm gonna hit up as many things I can soccer. Uh It's it's a
56:32
busy time of year, but man, is it fun. It's so cool.
56:37
So uh so yeah, I'm excited to to get this get this thing
56:42
going and do those weekly podcasts and and uh see how it goes. I
56:45
think it's gonna be a lot of fun. Tyler, Is there a track
56:49
coach in the county that's like been there for a long time? Holy cow?
56:55
Or isn't isn't Patrick Games? Patrick Games was kind of the first one
56:59
that I thought, if he's been doing it for a while, we need
57:02
we need somebody. So if if I'm coming up and we're gonna get struck
57:06
out by Emerson Baker, actually I'm going yard, but I think we need
57:12
to have Patrick Ames teach us how to do the high jump. I wouldn't
57:19
say pole vault, but no, no, no, couldn't get me to
57:22
do it. Yeah, no, you couldn't get me to do it.
57:25
I think we should try the high jump Are you just saying this because you're
57:30
like six inches taller than I am and you could wipe the floor with me.
57:35
It's possible, it's definitely not in my thought process. I mean,
57:42
you're bringing up a little bit more over the bar than I am. But
57:45
so maybe it evens out. I don't know, Tyler, I was sitting
57:49
here thinking about this whole, like you know, your beard is going to
57:51
catch the bar, that's the problem. No, it's not because I'm going
57:53
backwards. Oh you're going Fasberry flop on me. I love it. I
57:58
mean I gotta I gotta do. I mean, I don't know. Maybe
58:00
I will, maybe I won't. I don't. Honestly, I don't know
58:01
what I'm doing. So, uh, that being said, Tyler, Like
58:06
I'm thinking about this, it's gonna be wa preps versus the preps. That's
58:09
what that like. I think that's the name of it, walk Preps versus
58:13
the Preps. Yeah, you know, if you hang a nice juicy double
58:16
cheeseburger above the bar, I'll break the state record. Yeah, exactly.
58:21
It would be awesome. I think it'd be awesome. Or like a boomer,
58:24
a boomer burger with some some waffle fries and a shake. Now,
58:30
I have talked to the Knoksack Valley track coach Tyler Perry Yeah and yeah,
58:37
pain and uh. We've discussed me coming out and throwing the javel. We
58:42
talked about that last year. All Right, I could be on the jav
58:45
like that. That sounds like something I could actually maybe somewhat pull off,
58:49
right right, I mean probably not, but at least I'd be willing to
58:52
give it a shot. Yeah. I mean, I'm stretching my arm as
58:54
we speak now because it just hurts me just thinking about it with the shoulder.
58:58
But but yeah, I think that I think they'd be a lot of
59:00
fun. I mean, Joey Brown could show us all sorts of events.
59:04
I mean he's going to be a decathlated at Western Washington University, so you
59:08
know, we could do the hurdles like I'll run under all of them.
59:12
See. Now here's the thing this is, this is like even maybe more
59:15
of an idea in some of this stuff. Mm hmm. How about like
59:22
Tyler and Ryland versus Whitman, Like I think I think that's like, I
59:28
think that's like a three part series in itself. Well, it depends on
59:30
what we're doing because his depth perception might not be the best. But I
59:34
think we play basketball. Well, we'll shoot threes. Yeah, right,
59:39
well we'll play We'll play a little what's it called around the world. Yeah,
59:44
that'd be fun. I mean I think we could well. First off,
59:46
I know we could convince Whitman to come out and do some of this.
59:51
Yeah, we'll see. I think we could. Well, that's it,
59:54
Tyler. We're basically at an hour so perfect. That's great, and
59:59
that all so probably means it's time to go. So let's give a quick
1:00:01
shout out again to our sponsors, the fast Pitch sponsors, specifically MANA Insurance
1:00:07
seven to one nine Grover Street and Linden three six zero nine two to zero
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one four nine or online at MANA Insurance dot com. That's m A n
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n A Insurance Group dot com. Excuse me. And also we need to
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give a shout out to line Drive Northwest two zero five nine West Main Street,
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Sweet Sea and Linden. Line Drive and W dot com is their website
1:00:28
batting cages. You know what, Tyler, when we strike out by Emerson
1:00:32
Baker, we might have to go up there and get some some hacks at
1:00:36
Line Drive before we go out and make a fool out of ourselves. So
1:00:39
we also need to say thank you to Kurt Mayberry Farm for their continued sponsorship
1:00:45
of watcom Preps and Walkcom County High School Athletics. Kurtmayberry Farm dot com,
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Kurt with A C, M A B E r ry Farm dot com.
1:00:52
He's Tyler Anderson. I'm Ryland Spencer. You've been listening to episode two hundred
1:00:55
and forty five Fast Pitch Preview here on the Walkcom Preps Podcast. We will
1:00:59
talk to you next week from Mount Baker High School. No from our houses. M