U-Hi hopes to peak at tournament time

Jon Schuh asked his University Titans fastpitch softball team a trick question this week.

“This is my 16th year here at U-Hi,” he began. “Which of the teams we’ve had here in that time do you think had the best players?”

“That’s easy,” his players answered. “The 2003 team – the team that won the state title.”

Gotcha.

“No,” he said. “I’ve had better players over the years. I’ve had players who could just plain crush the ball.

“Do you want to know what made that team special? Everyone came together on that team.”

It’s a great message for a team heading into a tough regional tournament game Saturday against the No. 1 team from the Mid-Columbia Conference for a spot in the state tournament.

University won the District 8 4A title last week by thumping district rival Central Valley 11-1.

Pitcher Alex Douglas scattered seven hits over her six innings of work while the U-Hi offense kicked into high gear, collecting 11 hits, led by Gracee Dwyer’s 3-for-4 day.

The Titans used speed to score runs early and power to put the game away.

Together, the Titans show signs of peaking at just the right time.

“It’s tough to get it to time out,” Schuh said. “I’ve had teams that have played well at district and regionals and struggled at state and I’ve had teams that struggled to get through districts and regionals and caught fire at state. “Douglas’ strength lies in getting opponents to hit lots and lots of ground balls and the team defense does a good job backing her up with strong glove work in the field.

U-Hi’s strength is its team speed – something that never takes a day off. Senior Rachel Johnson is the fastest player in the Greater Spokane League, Schuh said.

As the team advances in the playoffs, that speed will become more and more important.

“The higher you go in the playoffs, the better the pitchers get,” Schuh said. “At the end of the day, fastpitch is called fastpitch for a reason. It’s all about what you have in the circle in the middle of the field.”

Standout pitching is commonplace in postseason softball. The more you win, the better pitching you face.

During the state tournaments you can walk from game to game and find that each features pitchers with full-ride college scholarships already signed, sealed and delivered.

“You see the power pitchers who throw incredible rise balls and you find pitchers who don’t gave great velocity but throw a great drop ball and force you to hit the ball on the ground,” Schuh said. “It’s important for us to get runners on base so we can use our speed and disrupt them a little.”

The Titans are young, the coach said. Preparing for Saturday and the chance to play the chance to extend the season one more week, the team is working hard to be in the right frame of mind.

Junior catcher Lexi Ivankovich epitomizes the challenge.

“She hadn’t played fastpitch since she was in junior high,” Schuh said. “For her, the safe thing for her would have been to play her in the outfield, but she came to me and said ‘Coach, I think I want to catch.’ I asked her if she knew what she was getting into.

“Someone once said that catching is like trying to please three masters. You have to keep the pitcher happy, you have to keep the umpire happy and you have to keep the coach happy. That’s a tough job.”

Ivankovich has risen to the occasion and helped the team to the brink of a state tournament.

“About the only problem is that she doesn’t have that Rolodex in her head of everything that can happen,” he said.