Primed for state

Brooklyn Robinson knows she and her West Valley teammates will be in Selah, Wash., next weekend, which makes today all about upgrades.

The Eagles assured themselves of a berth in the 2012 state Class 2A softball tournament a week ago, knocking off Cheney in the Northeast District championship game, 9-3, meaning that no matter what happens today at the Eastern Regional tournament at Dwight Merkel Sports Complex, the team moves on.

“That’s a pretty nice place to be, actually,” the senior pitcher/ centerfielder said. “We can relax and just go out and play our game. And we want to keep winning – we’re really hoping we can play Selah in the championship game and see just how we stack up going into next week.”

So far, West Valley stacks up in impressive fashion. After losing its first game of the season to Colville without a full roster, the team rolled off 21 consecutive victories – outscoring the Great Northern League 212-11 en route to an undefeated league season and the Northeast District title.

Senior starting pitcher Kelli Peckham entered the district tournament with an earned run average of 0.22 – meaning the senior gives up an average of one earned run every four and a half games. Not surprisingly, she authored three no-hitters and two one-hitters during the regular season.

And Robinson, the team’s No. 2 pitcher with an impressive ERA of 1.0, moved from her customary position at shortstop this season to play center field, where she earned the Great Northern League’s Most Valuable Player award while batting .527 during the league season.

Both pitchers will play college fastpitch softball. Peckham takes her game to Northwest College in Kirkland next year. Robinson will play at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif.

“I want to pitch in college,” she said. “That’s my goal. If I’m lucky, I can win a spot and play defense when I’m not pitching.”

For now, college softball is on the back burner, she insists – although she loves watching college games on television in search of any little thing that might help her own game.

“I love watching softball,” she said with a laugh. “I’m always watching pitchers for what they throw and when they throw it.

“It’s funny. After all this time I can look at a pitcher and just tell what she throws. But as a hitter, if I go up there thinking about what a pitcher will throw me I’ll never catch up to it. I have to let my training take over. Just see the ball and react.”

So, what does Robinson see when she looks at her own team?

“I’m not sure just how strong our league is compared to others around the state,” Robinson said. “But we do know what it takes to be successful at state because we got a taste of that last year. That’s what we’ve been building toward all year.”

A year ago West Valley won its first-round game at state, beating W.F. West of Chehalis 10-5, but was knocked into the consolation bracket by Anacortes in the quarterfinals. After edging Franklin Pierce 2-1, the Eagles fell to Othello 5-4 and were finished.

“We learned that you have to be ready and you have to play every inning,” Robinson said. “Every team there is going to be tough, and you cannot let up against any of them. It’s not that the pitchers are better than we’ve seen before, but they’ve all played close games and they’ve all been tested.”

West Valley’s coach, Paul Cooley, doesn’t mince words about this team: “I tell everyone the same thing: This is the best team I’ve ever coached.”

That’s high praise. Before coming to West Valley, Cooley coached Rogers for 17 seasons, playing in several Class 4A state tournaments. One of his teams lost a 1-0 heartbreaker in the state championship game.

“This team is better,” he said. “What makes this team different is the way every one of these girls goes up to the plate with a plan. One at-bat, two at-bats, three at-bats, as they see more of what a pitcher is going to throw and how they’re going to pitch them, these girls learn and modify their plan of attack.

“That’s pretty advanced stuff. I’ve had one or two players learn to do that over the years. This whole team does that.”

And the team has been willing to do what it takes to put the best team on the field.

“Brooklyn is a terrific pitcher, but Kelli is just a little bit better,” Cooley said, holding his thumb and index finger just far enough apart to see a separation. “Truth be told, we had a very good third pitcher who transferred to Mt. Spokane (Kaitlyn Bauman).

“If we still had her along with Kelli and Brooklyn, I would say we would have to be favorites to win state. As it is, I think we’re going to be in the mix.”

West Valley plays today at 2 p.m. against the winner of a loser-out game between Ellensburg and Clarkston. Selah, which won the Southeast District championship last week, plays the survivor of the Othello-Cheney game.

The winners of the two semifinal games meet at 4 p.m. today for the regional championship and the No. 1 seed; the semifinal losers play to determine the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds.

What the Eagles need to do, both this week and next, is simple, Robinson insists.

“We have to score runs every inning of every game,” she said. “We’ve had a couple games where we’ve put it all together and been able to do that, and we have the talent to do it.

“Against the teams that we’re going to play from now on, no lead is safe. Every one of them is capable of coming back and beating you no matter how many runs you score. You can’t let up. You have to keep scoring runs and not ever feel a lead is safe.”