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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bret Riggin enjoying worry-free season


EV's Bret Riggin is the top returning pitcher for the defending GSL baseball champions. 
 (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)
Steve Christilaw Correspondent

For Bret Riggin, love doesn’t hurt any more.

The right-handed East Valley senior loves playing baseball. He loved it as a sophomore when he pitched with a fractured back. He loved it as a junior, while he was still recovering from the surgery that repaired his back.

Now healthy and pain free, Riggin is spreading his love around by dominating Greater Spokane League hitters.

“My sophomore year I pitched with a fractured lumbar in my lower back,” Riggin said. “It was really hard for me to stay in condition. I had to find other ways to keep myself fit, things like riding a stationary bike. Last year, my junior year, I had to wait until the last minute to get going because I was still on rehab from surgery.

“This year has been different. I’m in the best shape of my life, and it’s helped a lot to work over the winter to get ready for this season.”

Riggin was a mainstay during conditioning workouts over the winter and began pitching off the practice mound in January.

For a guy who had trouble walking two years ago, Riggin has pushed East Valley’s fastest runners – Jye Lanphere and Grant Bruscoe – during sprints.

And now, when he steps atop the mound, there’s nothing gnawing at the back of his concentration, allowing Riggin to focus completely on whoever steps into the batters box against him.

Not that he wasn’t effective before.

Despite the injury, Riggin was 5-2 as a sophomore for the Knights. Last year he was 6-2 in league. This year he’s 2-1.

“Bret has already had a couple very good seasons for us and he’s ready to have another one,” East Valley coach John Phelan said. “We’ve had the injury bug hit us early this season and he’s really stepped up and shouldered a load for us.”

It’s hard to imagine throwing a baseball with a fractured vertebra, let alone pitch effectively week in and week out.

“There was a lot of pain when I pitched my sophomore year, but I dealt with it,” Riggin said. “It was difficult. There were games where it was really painful, and the day after I’d pitch I could hardly move. But I love baseball and as long as it wasn’t dangerous and it wasn’t threatening my health or my getting better, I was going to go out there and help my teammates any way I could.

“It was scary there for a while. I knew I had a fractured back and I knew I was going to have to have surgery after the season to correct it. But at the same time I knew I was going to get back to my old self.”

As a pitcher, Riggin has always had a clear understanding of what he wants to do.

“I like to watch Jamie Moyer pitch,” he said. “There are a lot of guys in the GSL who can throw as hard as he throws, but he’s in the big leagues because he can locate all of his pitches. That’s what I want to do.”

“That’s Bret’s strength,” Phelan explained. “He has great command of all three of his pitches. He’s not afraid to throw any one of his pitches at any time in the count. On top of that, he’s been working on adding a slider – something that he can use against left-handed hitters.”

“I started working on the slider last spring and it’s coming along,” Riggin said. “One of my dad’s friends, Jimmy Olson, taught me how to throw it and it’s effective against lefties.”

Olson played a bit part in the movie “Bull Durham,” Riggin explained. “He was the guy who gave up the last home run,” he said.

In some ways the injury forced Riggin to sharpen his mechanics. Even injured, he was able to throw all three of his pitches – a fastball, an overhand curve and a change-up – for strikes.

“I think a lot of that comes from doing my rehab,” he said. “I had to do everything just right or else it would hurt. I think that’s carried forward to today. I still do things that way.

“I still go out there and work hard every day in practice and I treat each day as if it’s my last.”

Riggin’s last day playing baseball is a long way off. He has a scholarship to pitch next season at Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City.

“I want to play there one season and then go off and do my two-year LDS mission,” Riggin said. “Once I get back from that, I want to see if I can play three seasons at Brigham Young University.”