Cardinal talent

You get the feeling that if Medical Lake softball head coach John Higgins ever had to, he would let his centerfielder Charlotte Psick play in the outfield by herself.

“In centerfield, she can cover both sides,” said Higgins. “Matter of fact, she could be the only outfielder out there.

“She’s so darn fast, and she’s smart. She knows how to read the ball. She covers it all.

“She could make an infield play before some of the infielders – that’s about how quick she is.”

Quickness is just one of the many attributes the Cardinal outfielder brings to the Medical Lake program. Psick’s hitting and fielding, not to mention her swiftness, has made her a two-time Great Northern League first team selection, and she is once again being counted on to lead Medical Lake this season.

“I don’t think there isn’t anything Charlotte can’t do, except maybe pitch,” Higgins said. “You couldn’t ask for a better player.

“She’s real coachable, and you never, ever hear a bad word come out of her. You don’t have many kids like that in your program. She’s not a real verbal leader, but when it comes to telling girls what they need to do and helping them out batting, she does it in a quiet way.

“Because of the way Charlotte is, everybody listens to her,” he said.

“This year, being a senior, more people look up to you,” Psick said. “I don’t mind helping anybody.

“If they have questions, I’ll help. If I see something wrong, I’ll try to correct it.”

While Psick’s speed is unquestioned, the Cardinal senior’s arm strength has been a work in progress, as she has had to come back from major shoulder surgery on her throwing arm before her sophomore season two years ago.

“It sounds really funny, but I dislocated it playing badminton,” Psick said. “My shoulder went out and right back in.

“A couple of weeks later I completely threw my shoulder out, and I think it fell down to my rib cage, or something like that. That was playing basketball.

“A couple of months later I did it again, and my shoulder went to the middle of my chest. A few months later, I was swimming, and it went out, but it finally moved itself back in. In January or February of my freshman year, I was playing volleyball and spiked it, and it went out. Then a week or two later, I did it again playing war ball. Surgery was the following summer.”

Besides her all-league ability on the softball diamond, Psick was recently honored at the all-state band competition with a selection as a first alto saxophone. Psick’s passion for music goes back to watching her mother as a child.

“My mom used to play for the Spokane Falls Community Band,” she said. “When they used to perform at The Met, they always had a saxophone section, and it was really cool seeing the saxophones.”

Psick, who will minor in music next year at Whitworth College, starts her day every morning at Medical Lake with jazz band. Psick then makes her way to Spokane Falls Community College, where she is a member of the Running Start academic program.

“My mom was kind of interested in it, and then she told me about it,” said Psick, who will major in biology next year at Whitworth College. “We discussed it, and she went to a meeting at the high school about Running Start. You could either go to the community colleges or go to EWU.

“My mom said I would probably have a better experience at the community college. I decided to take one summer before my junior year and take one class at Spokane Falls. I liked it, and so I decided to take a few classes through my junior year at the college. This year I decided to go full time with the exception of jazz band in the morning at the high school.”

Psick has been awarded an academic scholarship to Whitworth for her studies, but the Cardinal will also play softball for the Pirates next season. For now though, she hopes to lead her softball team to success on the field.

“I definitely hope we get to districts, which is always hosted at our fields,” she said. “I’d definitely like to make it to state, because we haven’t been there for quite a long time. We only lost two seniors from last year and we have the majority from last year, and most of the other teams are starting with new people, so hopefully we have an edge,” she said.

“She’s just a good kid to be around,” said Higgins. “I’m going to miss her next year for sure. I don’t know where I’m going to find somebody better.

“I think she could play at any level. Whitworth is a good school, but it’s not like UW or something like that, but I think she could play there if given the chance.”