Senior at home anywhere on softball field
SPIRIT LAKE – Voltaire once wrote that “rest is a good thing, but boredom is its brother.”
Timberlake High School senior Holli Edelblute can relate to the famous French philosopher’s sentiment. She’ll take a full night of sleep when she can find it, but that thought often is a distant one for an 18-year-old who has excelled in three sports during her four years of competing for the Tigers.
“I’ve been doing all three since eighth grade,” Edelblute said of volleyball, basketball and softball. “I haven’t just done those sports during the season. In winter, I’m doing all three. I’m practicing for softball, playing club volleyball, and it’s basketball season. With homework, there are a lot of late nights.”
But softball appears to be where Edelblute’s athletic future lies. She plans to continue her career at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene next year. Though she’s unsure what position she’ll play at the next level, she has learned the game playing the two most important infield positions outside the pitcher’s circle: catcher and shortstop.
Edelblute and starting hurler Kala Allred, also a senior, have developed a distinctive rapport on the field. And Timberlake coach Mike Menti praises Edelblute’s consistency and mind-set behind the plate.
“You’ve got to have a good catcher, especially with a pitcher like Kala who does such a good job moving the ball,” Menti said. “It’s a tribute to her catching.
“Last year, we were playing the second day in a row in 75-degree temperatures, and she lets one ball get by her and costs us a run. That’s all she’ll think about, not the 280 she’s dug out of the dirt before that,” Menti said.
“That’s the kind of ballplayer she is and, as a coach, you love to have.”
Added Allred: “I’ve been with other catchers, but Holli and I have always been there. We were on the same fourth-grade all-star team together. Even if I miss, she covers for me. That’s always nice.”
Catcher is regarded as the most physically demanding position, whether it’s squatting behind the plate for seven innings, taking foul tips off the shoulder or racing down the line to back up first base.
Menti said Edelblute takes charge and arranges her team defensively, and she’s quick out of her stance to gobble up bunts and fire throws to first.
Menti added, however, that Edelblute’s strengths aren’t applicable only to catching.
“She’s the kind of kid you can put in any position on the field except other than the circle, and she’ll be the best player there. Whatever you need, she’ll step in.
“She’s a fast young lady, she can play in the outfield, she can play the middle infield because she has the lateral movement, or you can put her at the corners in the infield and she’ll get it done. She has no fear.”
Even Edelblute can’t be sure what she likes best – playing behind the plate or running around in the field.
“I really like it at shortstop when someone tries to steal second and I tag her out,” Edelblute said. “But I also like being the catcher and throwing them out. Well, throwing them out is probably the best feeling. Wait. Heck, I don’t know.”
Maybe Holli Edelblute needs a good night’s sleep to think it over. Then again, maybe not.