2022 Fall High School Sports Preview: University slowpitch looks to carry over momentum from successful 2021-22 teams

The University softball program had a banner year in the 2021-22 school year. The slowpitch team won the 3A/2A state title in the fall, scoring 64 runs over three games – including a 26-11 win over Kelso in the championship game.

Then in the spring, the Titans shared the district title and qualified for the state fastpitch tournament, eventually bowing out in the third-place bracket.

With all that success, the Titans are excited to be back on the field for slowpitch.

“We had a good fall and spring,” all-league pitcher Autumn Hibbs said. “I’m hoping that carries over to this season.”

“We’re really excited to get going,” fourth-year coach Matt Connor said. “We have a lot of some new fresh faces that are contributing early which has been a nice surprise for us.”

“We’re getting everyone used to things,” Hibbs said. “It’s definitely different. A little challenging to get people to communicate more and just step out of their comfort zone and talk.”

She’s taken more of an active role in leadership.

“I’m one of the three seniors this year, so I’ve stepped up pretty much,” she said.

Connor believes the Greater Spokane League, and the other leagues across the state that play slowpitch in the fall, are at an advantage to those who don’t.

“Coming into the fall season it’s a really great way for the young kids to come in,” he said. “Get familiar with the program, get familiar with what the expectations are here at U-Hi and they get to build relationships right off the bat. They get to be part of a team. And we find that it really helps get kids ingrained in what Titan athletics are about.”

The success has a lot to do with the expectations.

“I’m not sure how the other schools look at us,” Connor said. “What I want is that we are able to maintain what has been a great tradition here at U-Hi, to have teams that compete and teams that are at towards the top of the standings.

“We want to get kids better every day and we want them to embrace competition. And we want to have some fun along the way.”

“Coach always tells us we have a target on our backs,” Hibbs said. “We just need to go in acting like it’s any other team and not get too ahead of ourselves.”

She doesn’t mind playing front-runner.

“It’s fun going into a game knowing that people know who you are.”

When the GSL brought slowpitch back as a fall sport in 2002, it was the only league in the state to play. The Mid-Columbia Conference and a couple others adopted it later, and the game has been spreading across the state ever since. The WIAA sanctioned slowpitch in 2018 and added the state tourney in 2019.

“It’s great for the sport,” Connor said. “It’s great for the GSL as more teams get into slowpitch across the state. We’re going to see the competition grow, which is great. We always want to play the best and we want to get ourselves ready and continue to make the GSL proud in slowpitch.”

Junior infielder Maliyah Mann joins Hibbs as returning all-league players this season.

“Autumn does such a great job for us pitching,” Connor said. “She kind of sets the tone for us. She has composure, which is what you want from a pitcher, and she just does a great job. She fields her position well, and she does a really good job at the plate for us putting the ball in play and being successful there.

“And then Maliyah is just an offensive threat – any time up she can hit the ball out of the yard. She does a great job for us defensively, but her most intimidating spot is that the plate for sure.”

Pitching in slowpitch might not seem as exciting, but it’s not just lobbing the ball up there and letting people put it in play.

“I don’t know what other programs do, but we try to locate pitches both short and deep. We try to work in and out,” Connor said. “One thing we don’t do, is we don’t walk people. Autumn makes batters put the ball in play, which really plays into our team because our defense is has been so solid.

“You’re not going to get many strikeouts in slowpitch. Our defense really carries the load for us.”

It puts a premium on every player being able to field their position.

The Titans’ infield is solid across the board.

“I think our middle (infielders) are really, really good,” he said. “Abby Watkins and Natalie Singer are dynamite up the middle. And Katie Travis is just as solid as can be at third base. Our entire infield, I feel, has the potential to be recognized at the end of the season.”

Momentum can be a funny thing sometimes, but Connor thinks the Titans’ success last year will carry over.

“It certainly will,” he said. “It just creates a good culture. It creates a good atmosphere. Kids set their own expectations when they have success. They want to follow that up with another successful season. Absolutely.”

Part of that momentum can be measured in turnout. U-Hi had 36 players come out for slowpitch this fall.

“It’s a really good number from what I’m hearing from other programs,” Connor said. “I feel like the numbers are coming back. I feel like kids are bouncing back and wanting to get out and join teams and be more active.”

For a decade, U-Hi has faced Central Valley in the “Fall Ball Brawl,” where the schools alternate years hosting a game under portable lights at night. It’s the biggest crowd every year for slowpitch.

This year, the league got together to schedule a whole evening of rivalry games under the lights on Sept. 27 at Merkel Sports Complex, with two games are 5:30 p.m and five games at 7.

“I’m super excited, especially for our seniors,” Hibbs said of the night games. “Hopefully we’ll go out beating (CV) cause they’re our rival.”

“What we’re trying to do is promote our sport in Spokane,” Connor said. “We’ll be able to continue our rivalry game with CV. Mead and Mt. Spokane will play their ‘Battle of the Bats.’

“We’re hoping to get a little media coverage and promote our sport and promote our girls. They deserve the same recognition and kudos that a lot of the other fall sports get. Sometimes we tend to fly under the radar. But these kids work just as hard and compete just as hard as any of the other sports in the GSL at the state level.”