Perfectly cast
The image is burned into memory.
Kim Watson, a flesh-colored cast on her pitching hand, jamming the softball into the formed pocket and firing strikes at the State 4A softball tournament last year.
Was she at her best? No. Did she give her best? Absolutely.
“For her to do that, to throw herself out there without her best stuff, that didn’t even bother her, or let us know it was bothering her,” said Mead High softball coach John Barrington. “I know it bothered her she didn’t get a hit, she didn’t get to contribute that way.
“I thought it was one of the most amazing things I’ve been around in athletics. Here’s this girl pitching with a cast on, and she’s all we got, which made it even more of a desperate situation. And she came through incredibly well.”
The broken thumb came from a botched sacrifice bunt attempt in a regional game against Pasco – “I’m usually a better bunter than that,” Watson said – but it didn’t stop her from earning the extra-inning win before heading to the hospital.
“It just shows what type of kid she is,” Barrington said. “She pitches a couple innings with a broken thumb against Pasco, to make sure we seal the (state berth).”
How important is Watson to the Panthers?
“If you want a percentage, it might be around 90 or something,” Barrington said, laughing. “She does more than just throw, too. She’s got a good bat. But even more important, she has raised the expectation level for younger kids in our program, what type of commitment we want out of girls who are playing for us. What’s expected even to get better.”
The senior right-hander was the Greater Spokane League’s Most Valuable Player last season when she was nearly perfect in the circle (18-1 record in league, 23-3 overall) and nearly as efficient at the plate (.351 batting average with 18 runs batted in).
So what does she do as an encore during her senior season, which opens today?
“I’ve been working a lot over the winter with my pitching coach Steve Fountain, and he’s helped me a lot,” Watson said, “just working on my form, getting better hitting spots. Developing new pitches and kind of toning my other pitches down so they work better.”
The Panthers will probably need an improved Watson. They won the GSL title for the first time in almost a decade last season, but this year the road should be tougher.
Shadle Park returns an all-league battery in pitcher Stephanie Trudeau and catcher Randi Sandifer, along with highly touted freshman pitcher Samantha Skillingstad. University is coming off another state appearance. Mt. Spokane, Central Valley and Gonzaga Prep all featured young talent last season.
“We won’t sneak up on people,” said Watson of the competition, “but I hope we have the same winning streaks we had last year. I think we have a really good team.”
The Panthers lost a lot, including All-GSL center fielder Halley Cey. But senior catcher Megan Foster, senior outfielder Megan Bertolero and sophomore shortstop Chantel Hughes-Gardner combine with Watson to give the Panthers a core to build around.
“It’s not going to be easy to do what we did,” Barrington said. “Can we do what we did? I definitely feel we can. But, like anybody that wins it once, everybody says that’s the team we have to beat, so it gets tougher.”
No team has Watson, who was tough enough last year to throw a shutout at state with the cast on.
She also threw well enough for Mead and her Puget Sound-based summer team (the Washington Lady Hawks) to earn a scholarship to New Mexico State, which she will sign with during the April signing period.