Team player

Jessie LaPlante has done a lot of growing up in the past four years.

The Lakeland ace enters 3A state girls softball tournament play today with the confidence — and wicked stuff — rarely seen at the high school level.

Not to mention that she also leads the Hawks in batting.

Her numbers are staggering: Her ERA is an infinitesimal 0.12, she’s averaged 13 strikeouts and just one base on balls per game and she’s hitting .460 with a .731 on-base percentage.

Despite all the talent and charisma she brings to the field, LaPlante is by no means self-centered and gives the lion’s share of the credit to her teammates.

“I think we have a lot of talent, and we’re all pulling together at the same time,” said LaPlante, whose team opens against the Sugar-Salem Diggers today at 3 at Ramsey Park. “Throughout the season, different people would step up at different times.

“Right now it seems like everything is coming together.”

And it doesn’t hurt a thing that the Hawks (and District I champ Timberlake) have what is, in essence, the home-field advantage.

“It’s a huge bonus that state is going to be played here,” LaPlante said. “I think we’ll be well-rested getting to sleep in our own beds.”

She said she’s unfamiliar with Sugar-Salem, but that it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“I think it will be better that I haven’t faced them before,” LaPlante said. “In league, other teams get used to facing me and it makes it harder to pitch to them.

“They won’t know my pitches as well.”

Indeed, it can be difficult for even the best pitchers to defeat a team four or five times in a season.

Case in point: St. Maries jumped up and beat the Hawks Friday in extra innings in the opening round of districts.

It meant Lakeland had to win two games Saturday, one against a tough Priest River squad and the next against those same Lumberjacks.

But LaPlante and the Hawks were up to the task as the team shored up its defense and she struck out 10 and 11 respectively in a pair of shutout victories.

“We showed a lot of character, coming back to win those two games in districts,” LaPlante said. “So I think it helped us in that way; knowing that we have that in us.”

She said she and her teammates have been there before.

“We actually did that last year, too,” LaPlante said. “We were first in league and then we lost our first game at districts.

“We’ve been there before, so we were pretty confident despite losing to St. Maries.”

LaPlante, who started out playing T-ball on a team coached by parents Paul and Lyn, said her dad has been the biggest influence on her career.

“I started pitching when I was 11, and he’s been my pitching coach ever since,” she said of Paul, who pitched in college and has gone as far as purchasing instructional videos to further the cause. “I was playing first base on a 12-and-under team and we were terrible and we didn’t have a pitcher.

“He’s helped me so much.”

Another big influence LaPlante points to is Lakeland coach Jim Pizelo.

“When we have a rally, he’s the most excited person,” LaPlante said of her coach. “He’s jumping up and down and getting us even more pumped up.”

“She’s such a special kid,” Pizelo said. “She’s grown so much since she was a freshman, both in her skills and her attitude.”

LaPlante, who carries a 4.0 gpa and is one of four Lakeland valedictorians, said she plans on attending the Community Colleges of Spokane this fall.

With all of the excitement of graduating and moving on, though, comes a measure of sadness, and she admits she’ll miss donning the green and gold.

“I loved going to school at Lakeland — it was great,” LaPlante said. “There are a lot of really great people there.”