Mound of talent
When any discussion of Greater Spokane League fastpitch softball gets around to pitching, it gets around to Kristina DeMello. And when it gets around to DeMello, it gets around to local fastpitch guru Steve Fountain.
DeMello, second-team all-GSL as a junior, has improved every year, Mt. Spokane High School coach Carl Adams says, and he’s not hesitant in giving Fountain a huge share of the credit.
“School coaches see the kids between March and May,” said Adams, “so their success is really determined in the off season, by what they do to prepare. And after every season, Kristina has put in the time and the commitment to get better.
“She came to us as a raw talent who threw hard but struggled with her control. She’s where she is now because of her work ethic, her commitment and the support from her parents to help her develop.”
A big part of that development came, as it has for other area pitchers, from working with Fountain, a former fastpitch parent and longtime pitching tutor whose list of successful softball students is a lengthy one.
For DeMello, whose ninth-grade pitching experience was her first, that off-season work began after her freshman year, three times a week. As she progressed, she says, she realized that she had an unpolished talent, and became determined to perfect it.
“It started out with my technique,” she said recently. “Since then, I’ve worked on adding more pitches and gradually on controlling every pitch.”
The time that she, Adams and Fountain have put in has paid off in an athletic scholarship next year at Miami-Dade Junior College in Florida. Selected last fall for the Washington Ladyhawks, a premier team based in Seattle, DeMello competed in a showcase tournament in Florida during January and, needless to say, impressed the Miami-Dade coaches.
“I’m very excited to get that opportunity,” she said, “but I hope that’s not the end of the line. I hope eventually to play Division 1 somewhere.”
She’s been playing softball since teeball and coach-pitch days, and is single-minded in her approach to the sport – her year-round dedication to improving her skills has precluded involvement in other sports.
“Softball is a passion for me,” she said. “I love pitching, and being involved in every play is exciting. Athletically, I decided to dedicate all my time to softball – fall ball, winter workouts, school ball and then summer league.”
And lest anyone think that her only softball skill is in the pitching circle, she’s batting fifth this season in the Wildcat lineup after Adams used a designated hitter for her the last two seasons.
“She’s been a big surprise there,” said the Mt. Spokane coach. “Her hitting has been a huge bonus for a team which had a lot of offensive question marks coming into the season.”
DeMello split time in the circle during her sophomore season, but has been the Wildcats’ No. 1 hurler the last two seasons.
DeMello recalls her early days in the circle.
“I just didn’t have any control. I was so inexperienced that I didn’t realize that there was such a wide world of knowledge and opportunity out there for me.”
And now she does.