STATE 2A SOFTBALL: Roughriders retool instead of rebuild with great results

SELAH — A veritable 21-softball salute.

Twenty one softballs flying off various bat barrels and over the fence during an early-season practice at the Dry Creek fields signaled that while the season had changed, the success which Port Angeles has grown accustomed would not be interrupted in 2018.

And while a dropoff in production from a 2017 season that saw the Roughriders roll to league and district titles and an eventual second-place finish at the 2A state tournament was likely expected — particularly after losing five graduated players off that squad to college softball — it hasn’t occurred.

Port Angeles (20-3) repeated as Olympic League 2A and West Central District 3 champions. And the Riders are headed back for another Class 2A state softball tournament at Selah’s Carlon Park beginning today with a 10 a.m. game against Sedro-Woolley (15-9), the program’s sixth straight trip to state.

Port Angeles also will be honored at state Saturday after winning the Class 2A Academic State Championship with a 3.838 GPA.

The Riders elected to reload, rather than rebuild this season — aided by an able cast of returning upperclassmen, the growth of several players and the introduction of numerous highly functioning freshman.

“One of our first practices I think we hit 21 home runs out spread out through the whole team,” Roughriders senior second baseman and Olympic League MVP Natalie Steinman said. “That was reassuring because I didn’t realize how good these younger players can hit.”

And field and run the bases. Port Angeles is deep, versatile and capable up and down the roster.

Steinman leads the way offensively, with five home runs, 19 total extra-base hits, 60 RBIs and a .671 batting average.

“This year is different because with Nizhoni [Wheeler, the best pitcher in Riders history], people said ‘Port Angeles only got there because they have a dominant pitcher,’ ” Steinman said. “They said that we don’t do defense. This year we’ve been working hard on our defense, we’ve been working hard on our pitching and its been a complete team effort with everyone embracing their roles.”

Port Angeles is 85-10 over the past four seasons, 47-0 in Olympic League 2A contests with four outright league titles in that stretch.

That level of success has been sustained by using situational drills and focusing on fundamentals in practice, coaches that seek out the newest techniques and drills used by high-level college teams and is nurtured by former players returning to help out during their breaks from their college teams.

“A big thing is we do situational drills in practice pretty much every day,” Steinman said. “We go over bunt situations with runners at first and third. We go over every situation you can imagine so we are prepared when they happen. Like the Olympic game [a district semifinal that utilized the international tiebreaker putting a runner on second base to open every inning beginning with the ninth], we practice those game-like situations and what we should do.”

Coach Randy Steinman agreed with his daughter.

“We really stress the fundamentals,” he said. “We spend time nearly every practice on baserunning so they understand the situations of the game so they know what to do and they can react, so that it becomes habit. First and third situations, every kind of situation we think of.”

All-Olympic League first team center fielder Sierra (CC) Robinson said she’s motivated by the team’s coaching staff (Steinman, Rob Edwards, Dirk Gouge, Duffy Fors and Chuck Perrizo).

“Our coach, and how much he loves the game,” Robinson said. “It kind of radiates out from him. Our coaches, we have an amazing group of coaches and we couldn’t do it without them.”

This season the team has gotten a boost from second-team all-league freshmen such as shortstop Jada Cargo and outfielder Olivia Nevaril; a big boost from sophomore first-team all-league outfielder Ella Holland; and contributions from underclassmen like speedy Camille Stensgard, Lucah Folden and Madi Roening.

Robinson has appreciated the “overall energy” the younger players have contributed.

“Sometimes you run into the problem where underclassmen don’t really work as hard as the upperclassmen because they know they have two or three more years left,” Robinson said. “That hasn’t been something we’ve had to deal with.”

Randy Steinman said those younger players stepped up at key moments during the Riders’ 3-0 run through the district tournament last weekend.

“Jada made some phenomenal plays at short that pretty much saved us, game changers is what they were,” he said. “And Ella made some fantastic catches in the outfield that picked us up at a crucial spot. They needed one run and they hit a gap shot and Ella runs over and snags it.

“That Olympic game [a come-from-behind rally to win 14-8 in nine innings in the district semifinals], I have 16 girls now, including the ones we brought up from JV, all 16 got a piece of that game. Whether it was pinch running or pinch hitting, and that shows us the depth right there.

“Absolutely, I have no problems putting Kiana [Watson-Charles] or Madi into hit or Camille to run bases. I have complete confidence into them.”

Natalie Steinman shares that confidence.

“The Olympic game, when Jada was up to bat I knew that one was going out [a 3-run home run to take the lead in the ninth inning]. I have confidence in everybody. It shows that everybody is capable.

“Some teams its like, ‘Whew, you reached the bottom of the lineup, we can get these outs.’ But with our team the end of the lineup is just as good as the top.”

And the youngsters are joined by a stellar cast of upperclassmen returnees like Erin Edwards, pitchers Callie Hall and Hope O’Connor and catcher Brennan Gray as well as Aeverie Politika, who is back on the softball diamond after playing tennis and golf the last two springs.

At a recent practice, Port Angeles also had some returning stars back to help out in Carly Gouge, who just wrapped up her junior season at Hillsdale College and Lauren Lunt, who completed her freshman season at the University of Mary.

“Yeah, it’s really awesome (on having former players back to help at practice),” Robinson said.

Randy Steinman loves having the former Riders back to assist.

“Absolutely, and this is Carly’s third year coming back, she goes to districts and goes to state with us,” he said. “It makes us feel good for one thing that they miss it, they enjoyed their years and they want some more. And they are great help because they can talk to the kids, they’ve been there, they’ve done it. And they can tell you what college is going to be like and what is required. It’s great having them back here.”