Softball preview: St. Michael’s builds on basics
Amy Urann, a competitor by nature, is always up for a challenge, and so she’s added “varsity softball coach” to her list of responsibilities.
Urann already coaches girls basketball at St. Michael’s Academy and this season has taken on the high school softball job at the school she attended for 14 years herself, from preschool through graduation. She’s also working as a long-term substitute at University High School.
St. Michael’s Academy, with just over 50 students enrolled in the high school program, is assigned to the WIAA’s 1B Classification, for Washington’s smallest schools, and it’s no easy task fielding a team when almost half the girls in the school must choose to participate.
But Urann has 14 girls, half of them freshmen, on the softball team. They’re a mix, she says, of girls with some experience and others with little or none.
“If they’re interested and they can throw a ball, they’re in” she said. “I tell everybody in the school to come out and give it a try. We’ve got a couple returning girls who have gone to camps, and we’ve also got three who’ve never played.
“It’s a challenge, but my philosophy is to focus on fundamentals first anyway, so I’m teaching and reteaching all the time. My focus is on the progress we can make and sharpening our technique. The results will come after that.”
Urann’s father Larry was the original softball coach at St. Michael’s, beginning in 1996. He coached for six seasons, through Amy’s senior season. The program has had two coaches since then, most recently Sister Marie Janae, but when Urann was approached earlier this year, she was glad to take on the additional position.
“I’ve coached basketball here for the last four years, and I love it,” she said. “I’m coaching some of my friends’ little sisters, including my own, and because the school is so small, it’s a very close-knit group.
“Some of the girls are really competitive and aggressive, and others are just out to have fun, but the two groups learn from each other that it can be fun when you become more competitive and that, when things go wrong, it’s still just a game.”
St. Michael’s is a member of the Panorama League, and finished 7-12 last season. Urann says her goal this season to get through District 7 to the state tournament as one of three qualifiers.
“In all the small schools, success comes in cycles,” she said. “This may be a building year because we’re so young, but in a year or two, we’ll be pretty good.”