‘She’s the spark that starts the engine’

For most hitters a high average is important.

Not for Timberlake junior and leadoff hitter Brittany Amende. Her coach, Mike Menti, doesn’t care what Amende’s batting average is, to be honest.

There’s just one number Menti is concerned with – on-base percentage.

Amende has a school-best .613 on-base percentage.

“Her average means nothing to me,” Menti said. “The on-base percentage is most important because the higher that number the more times she’s getting on base. She’s way ahead of anybody we’ve had at leadoff. She’s the spark that starts the engine.”

Any time she reaches first base – whether it is by hit, walk or error – it usually means she’ll end up at second base. She has a team-leading 23 steals.

“She started off the year struggling,” Menti said.

It was understandable considering the weather and how often Timberlake had to practice in its gym. The Tigers didn’t play their first home game until last week.

The poor weather has meant that Timberlake has had to play most of its games on wet fields. Soggy fields are a detriment to a leadoff hitter – especially a classic leadoff hitter like the left-handed hitting Amende, who likes to slap at the ball or pound it into the ground.

“The ground has been mushy for a lot of the games,” Menti said.

So Amende had to adapt, altering her swing. You’ll hear pitchers many times talk about the number of different pitches they have; Amende talks about the number of different swing styles she has acquired.

“I’ve been working on four and five different swings,” said the three-year starter, who is in her second season at shortstop and is bound to be an all-Intermountain League first team pick for a third consecutive year.

Part of Amende’s slow start could be attributed to her having to adjust to different pitchers. She was used to trying to hit off of hard-throwing teammate Kala Allred the last couple of years. Allred graduated and Amende has had to adjust to hitting off of slower pitchers.

“Timing is huge for a leadoff hitter,” Menti said. “It took her the first 10 games to adjust.”

Adjust she has, though.

Amende is a throwback as far as Menti is concerned.

“She reminds me of a lot of the baseball players I played against growing up,” Menti said. “She’s one of those old style players who just gets it done with no excuses.”

Amende is such a diehard that if she goes through a practice or a game without getting grass or dirt stains on her uniform, she gets mad.

“If you haven’t been in the dirt, you haven’t played hard enough and done your job,” she explained.

That approach puts a smile on Menti’s face.

“You have to appreciate that,” Menti said. “She’s a team leader by example.”

She comes from a family of hard workers no doubt. Her father, Todd, and his brother, Dennis, were standout wrestlers back in the day at Coeur d’Alene High. Todd continues to be a blue-collar type worker as a firefighter.

“My dad always says you get what you put into something,” Amende said. “I think that philosophy has rubbed off on me.”

Timberlake took second at the State 3A tournament last year. The Tigers suffered some key losses to graduation, and many thought Timberlake might come back to the Intermountain League pack this year.

But not the Tigers, who clinched their fourth straight league championship last week.

It was motivation for Amende and her teammates.

“We still have a good array of talent,” Amende said. “It’s been nice to prove people wrong this year.”

Amende works hard on her game, especially at the plate. She can place the ball within a couple feet of where she wants to hit it most times.

She had her first home run this season, taking a full swing while running out of the batter’s box. The ball sailed well over Kellogg’s drawn-in infielders and bounded past a diving outfielder. Amende used her speed to zip around the bases for the inside-the-park homer.

“I enjoy being the leadoff hitter,” she said. “It’s something I take very seriously.”

While softball is the lone sport she plays, it’s not her lone activity. She loves horseback riding with her mom and goes hunting with her father. She killed her second deer last fall.

“It was a good-sized doe,” she said.

Just call Amende multidimensional.