Kayla Horton leads Tigers from mound

Last season, Tara Groves was in a bind. The Lewis and Clark slow pitch softball coach needed a backup pitcher but wasn’t sure who would fill that role.

In would step Kayla Horton, and the rest, they say, is history.

“She was really just a natural,” said Groves. “It was like the light for me went on the first time I said, ‘Kayla, try pitching.’

“She tried it, and it was like ‘Oh my gosh, you’re my pitcher.’ That was pretty cool for her because she’s really competitive and really wanted to contribute. As soon as she threw 10 balls, I knew she was my pitcher.

“For her, she was a natural. It was a very obvious choice once we saw her do it.”

Horton was a catcher and second baseman by trade until her junior year, but fortunately for the Tigers, she is now the ace of the hill. Horton has been a major reason why the Tigers are one of the favorites to win the Greater Spokane League title when postseason play begins next week.

“She’s a real hard worker,” Groves said. “She worked hard over the summer and pitched a lot. It’s an area she saw she could be real successful in, and I think she took a lot of pride in that.

“She made second team all league last year as a junior in just her first year of pitching. That was pretty impressive for her. I think she just wanted to come out in her senior year and be successful and be a real contributor.”

A big part of Horton’s success has been her ability to throw more than just the standard slowpitch repertoire.

“She’s developed the backspin pitch, which has been a real advantage for us because a lot of kids struggle with the backspin pitch,” said Groves. “They tend to pop it up a little bit more frequently, so that’s been helpful to us.

“She’s been able to throw that pitch this year and getting very good at putting the ball where we want her to put it. As long as she keeps her pitches high and inside, she can get them to hit the ball to the left side and allow us to shift over and have our defense in the right spots.”

“I learned backspin after I got good at just pitching regularly because Coach wanted me to mix it in every once in a while,” said Horton. “Backspin is harder because you have to really use your legs to push off for it to really get the arc.

“If you don’t use your legs, it will just drop. It won’t arch. It’s really difficult.

“I had to practice a lot before I got the full backspin thing down. It’s a very effective pitch because most girls think that in slow pitch you hit the crap out of the ball, but when you hit the backspin, if you’re really trying to hit it and hit underneath it, the ball will just come off your bat as a really easy pop fly to the infield. Backspin is the best pitch you can throw.”

As much as Horton has developed on the mound, it’s not the area she feels she’s progressed the most.

“I’ve improved the most in my hitting actually,” said Horton. “When I first started out I was only playing fast pitch, so I didn’t understand how to hit the ball.

“As the four years have progressed, I’ve started hitting a lot better. It’s all about patience when you’re trying to hit a slow pitch ball.”

Horton, who hopes to become an OB-GYN someday, will attend the University of Washington next fall. This fall though, she hopes to lead her team to the GSL title in her final season on the hill.

“It would mean the world to me,” said the senior hurler. “I would be so happy. I think we have a pretty good shot, as long as we keep doing what we’ve been doing and fully support each other, I think we have a really good shot at winning it.”

“I love the kids,” said Groves. “It is such a great group of kids. Every group is good, but this group has bonded well. They enjoy each other’s company.

“We enjoy practice and games. It’s been fun and competitive. It’s been real nice. I just think we need to continue to compete.

“We need to capitalize on our defense. I think we only have 13 team errors in seven games. It’s a good spot for us.

“We’re hitting about .450, which is good. Our top five to six batters are really carrying us. We need to bring along the rest of the lineup, and not leave runners on base.

“I would really like to see this group continue to play together as a team like they’ve done.”