High school softball preview: The top teams, players in the South Sound in 2022
For some contenders in the South Sound, last year’s softball season left much to be desired.
Those who hoisted league championship trophies could look no further down the calendar. For the second straight season, the coronavirus pandemic had canceled state tournaments. The 2021 season ended early, but that will change in 2022.
Softball’s return is underway, and some of last year’s top squads have picked up right where they left off. This time, there’s a state tournament in the distance, and plenty of South Sound programs are participating in the race.
Here’s a preview of top programs and players around the South Sound in 2022.
4A SPSL
Puyallup captured last season’s 4A SPSL title and outlasted a crowded handful of teams vying for the league trophy. Olympia finished with a league-best 11-1 record in 2021, and despite losing South Division Co-MVP Alyssa Waltermeyer after a transfer to Tumwater, the Bears lead the league early in 2022 with an undefeated 4-0 start.
A trio of challengers are off to undefeated starts in-league alongside Puyallup: Rogers (4-0), Olympia (4-0), and South Kitsap (3-0). The Vikings, after an 8-5 finish in 2021, return ace pitcher Isabelle Welch and first-teamer Samantha Bland, who currently sports a .647 batting average in five games this season. Rogers, despite a 4-6 finish last year, has seven hitters currently hitting above .400 through six contests. South Kitsap, now 3-0, has allowed just eight total runs.
Olympia beat Puyallup twice last season – both by one run in extra innings, to boot – and if they want to challenge the Vikings for the tops in the league, they’ll rely on the arm of Sami Potvin, who as a freshman took the 4A SPSL by storm in 2021 after posting a 6-1 record and 0.88 ERA in nine games. She’s off to an even better start this spring, already 5-0 with a 0.66 ERA and 61 strikeouts in just 31 ⅔ innings. Opponents are hitting just .160 off Potvin so far, and given her status as team ace, she’s a lock in the circle for the majority of Olympia’s innings.
4A NPSL
Despite small sample sizes in league play, Kentwood raced to a quick, 4-0 start over out-of-league competition earlier this month. They’re led by sophomore ace Sarah Wright, who snagged 4A NPSL Pitcher of the Year honors last year as a freshman after posting a 0.76 ERA across 55 innings. At the plate, she was just as dominant, hitting .500 with 16 RBIs, and never struck out.
Tahoma, currently 2-1 in league play, hopes for a return to the NPSL title game behind the help of Oregon State-committed infielder Kaiea Higa. Kennedy Catholic, now 0-2, returns reigning league Co-Player of the Year Shelby Lawson, who posted an incredible .702 average with 13 home runs in 2021.
3A NPSL
Like their neighbors in the 4A classification, the 3A NPSL should be competitive. Led by Central Washington commit Raquel Reising, Auburn Riverside enters 2022 as the reigning league champs, and captured the NPSL crown in walk-off fashion last year over Tahoma.
Reising won league MVP honors last season, and the Ravens return another pair of first-teamers in outfielder Kaitlyn Anardi and infielder Sadie Jensen. Anardi, who posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, posted a .452/.510/.690 slash line in 2021.
Thomas Jefferson pitcher Justyce Porter leads the Raiders’ challenge for a league title, after the now-senior secured Pitcher of the Year honors in 2021. Porter struck out 87 batters in 53 innings, hit .657 on offense, and committed to St. Cloud State University. She’s also club teammates with Auburn Riverside’s Reising.
3A PCL
Before any of the 3A PCL can earn consideration as a contender with Bonney Lake, they’ll need to beat the Panthers, something no team in the league has done since its inception prior to the 2016-17 season.
That’s right: since 2017, the Panthers are 53-0 in league play. Bonney Lake rattled off three consecutive 14-0 seasons between 2017-19, and finished 8-0 to win the title last year. Early on in their current campaign, they’re 3-0 and led by reigning league Pitcher of the Year Bella Carazo, who went 11-0 last season with 91 strikeouts and a 0.63 ERA.
A pair of Panther infielders hit .500 or better last year, and both return for 2022: Bella Jones posted a .548 average in 2021, and Kyla Cross currently leads the team in batting average (.435). Both were 2021 3A PCL first-teamers.
Lakes (2-0) and Lincoln (1-0) represent the last remaining undefeated 3A PCL programs, next to Bonney Lake. The Lancers return first-teamer Makenna Quenga in the infield, and Lincoln welcomes Joy Wilde, an inaugural member of the Seattle Mariners Hometown Nine. The program, in the words of the Mariners, “supports communities of color by creating access and removing barriers to participation with the goal to foster a diverse pipeline of baseball and softball players.”
“(Joy) is always calm, cool, and collected and has a lot of potential,” said Lincoln coach Haylie Tulupan. “She has big things in her future.”
3A SSC
The league returns to normal this year. Last spring, Gig Harbor and Peninsula played as temporary members of the 4A SPSL, opting to compete against other schools from Pierce County during the pandemic-shortened season. Central Kitsap joined a league with other Kitsap County schools, leaving the Thurston County schools by themselves in the 3A SSC. This year, the gang is back together.
Three teams remain undefeated in 3A SSC league play: Gig Harbor, Peninsula, and Yelm. Those squads and Central Kitsap (2-1) are averaging more than 10 runs per game; the others are winless through March 29.
Timberline’s 0-3 start included losses to each of the SSC’s undefeated teams, though they snagged a 9-0 win over Lakes on March 25. The Blazers return reigning league MVP Tori Trotter, who posted a .763/.839/1.473 slash line and perfect 1.000 fielding percentage last season. Timberline’s Jazmyn Polanco secured Pitcher of the Year honors in 2021 as a freshman, and will build on a 9-3 record and 2.85 ERA in 2021.
Since the SSC’s creation prior to the 2016-17 season, Yelm is 57-1 in league play. They haven’t lost a division title, and remain the favorites behind first-team pitcher Vivian Watts and infielders Kailei Thompson and Ashlyn Aven.
And each of Yelm’s “big three” are off to strong starts: Watts, who’s 7-for-19 (.368) at the plate, is 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA inside the circle. In eight total games, Thompson’s .407 average ranks near the top of her team. Aven sports a .375 average in the early stages of her senior season, and leads the Tornadoes with 10 RBI.
By Friday evening, at least one of the league’s three undefeated teams will fall, and Yelm’s status as the league’s top dog will be tested. The Tornados begin a two-day gauntlet later this week, facing Peninsula on Thursday and Gig Harbor on Friday – both on the road.
2A SPSL
Eatonville captured last season’s title behind a 9-0 undefeated season, but moved to the 1A Evergreen conference for the 2021-22 softball season. The 2A SPSL will, inevitably, crown a new champion.
In 2021, the Cruisers packed first-team lists and rostered last season’s Athlete of the Year in Hailey Rath, who posted an exceptional .704/.746/1.833 slash line and hit 15 home runs and 58 RBI. Had Eatonville remained in the 2A SPSL, they’d return Rath and another five first-teamers, and would have settled in as the favorite to repeat their league crown.
Their move to the 1A Evergreen Conference opens the door for Enumclaw, which finished in second place last season and already has raced to a 4-0 start this spring. They’re returning 2A SPSL first-teamer Maddie Higginbotham, who’s leading the Hornets with eight hits in 20 at-bats (.400) early on.
On March 19, Enumclaw (5-3, 5-0 2A SPSL) lost by a single run to 4A contender Tahoma, but hasn’t lost in-league after a 9-4 finish in 2021. Their main competition could become the Hornets from White River, too – off to the same undefeated start, White River has at least 10 runs in each of their contests early on. On March 17, White River took down Clover Park, 30-6, and shut out Foss, 18-0, on March 22.
Orting, now at 2-0 in the 2A SPSL, could make a charge behind the efforts of a trio of returning first-teamers: pitcher Kaylee Gresko, infielder Abby Almont, and outfielder Dakota Halte.
2A EvCo
W.F. West ran the table last season, and with ace pitcher Kamy Dacus back in the circle, they very well may do it again.
Dacus – and seven other returning starters – are 3-0 on the current campaign after a perfect 12-0 finish in 2021. The Bearcats’ top pitcher was The Olympian’s All-Area Player of the Year last season after posting a 16-0 record with a 0.69 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 102 innings pitched. She hit for the cycle last season, and finished with a .500 batting average and 29 RBI.
Of the others on W.F. West, Brielle Etter earned first-team honors and never made an error at second base in league play in 2021. Infielder Sage Brindle was a second-teamer, and first baseman Savannah Hawkins was an all-league honorable mention after posting a .426 on-base percentage.
Of the Bearcats’ four games this season, Dacus has pitched every inning, going 3-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 47 strikeouts; her loss came to out-of-league Olympia, and even then, the 4A Bears mustered just two runs.
Tumwater, also in contention, co-holds the league lead at 3-0 early on. The T-Birds added shortstop Alyssa Waltermeyer, who transferred after earning 4A SPSL Co-MVP honors for Olympia last year. They’ll return three starters, all seniors, including infielder Scout Abbott and leadoff hitter Jaylen Latchaw.
The T-Birds play W.F. West twice in the regular season, on April 15 and May 2. Those two contests, assuming continued dominance by both squads, could offer a glimpse as to which team will hoist the league trophy in May.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
P — Sami Potvin, Olympia, soph.
P — Isabelle Welch, Puyallup, jr.
INF — Samantha Bland, Puyallup, sr.
OF — Sydney Sasaki, Rogers, soph.
C — Laila Smith, Olympia, jr.
INF — Emma Stamp, South Kitsap, jr.
INF — Alison Harris, Graham-Kapowsin, sr.
SS/P — Shelby Lawson, Kennedy Catholic, sr.
P — Sarah Wright, Kentwood, soph.
INF — Kaiea Higa, Tahoma, sr.
P — Saraye Fuentes, Kentridge, sr.
INF — Leilani Dalizon, Kentridge, sr.
INF — Treja Patterson, Federal Way, sr.
P/INF — Raquel Reising, Auburn Riverside, sr.
P — Justyce Porter, Thomas Jefferson, sr.
INF — Sadie Jensen, Auburn Riverside, sr.
INF — Taylor Minton, Auburn Mountainview, jr.
INF — Kaycee Palomo, Thomas Jefferson, jr.
OF — Kaitlyn Anardi, Auburn Riverside, sr.
P — Bella Carazo, Bonney Lake, jr.
INF/OF — Kyla Cross, Bonney Lake, jr.
INF — Bella Jones, Bonney lake, jr.
P/INF — Makenna Quenga, Lakes, sr.
INF — Haley Rusbuldt, Lakes, sr.
OF — Tori Trotter, Timberline, jr.
P — Jasmyn Polanco, Timberline, soph.
P — Vivian Watts, Yelm, sr.
INF — Ashlyn Aven, Yelm, sr.
INF — Molly Embrey, Yelm, sr.
INF — Kailei Thompson, Yelm, sr.
P — Alli Kimball, Peninsula, jr.
INF — Audrey Allen, Gig Harbor, sr.
P — Kaylee Gresko, Orting, jr.
INF — Abby Almont, Orting, jr.
INF — Ella Lidstrom, White River, jr.
INF — Alyssa Waltermeyer, Tumwater, sr.
P — Kamy Dacus, W.F. West, sr.
INF — Ella Orr, Centralia, sr.
OF — Hailey Rath, Eatonville, sr.
Correction: An earlier version of this story listed Sumner pitcher Amaya Smith as a player to watch. She is no longer on the Spartans’ roster.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
