The Huskies have shown they can win routs or close, extra-inning games on their way to a 32-2 record and the nation’s No.1 ranking. “It’s any hero any day,” coach Heather Tarr said. “It’s about great pitching, great defense and clutch hitting. They buy into that. They believe in that.”
“This team is not normal.” — UW softball coach Heather Tarr
Perhaps you’ve heard about the Herculean Huskies — the ones who scored 175 runs in their first 20 games while allowing just 14. That was the team that ascended to No. 1 in the nation using nothing but sheer force.
But now let me introduce you to the heroic Huskies — the ones who have won all four of their extra-inning games this season via comebacks and walkoffs. Because that’s what this team will have to be if it wants to remain No. 1 by season’s end.
Washington softball is now 32-2 and 4-2 in the Pac-12. It has the No. 1 RPI in the country, and was ranked No .1 in the USA Today poll before its three-game series vs. Arizona, which it swept.
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But instead of knocking their opponents out in the first couple of rounds like they did in the first half of the year, these Huskies are finding they can pull off the 12th-round KO, too.
Take this latest series vs. the Wildcats. On Friday, UW trailed Arizona, 1-0, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Then, third baseman Taylor Van Zee worked a full-count walk, which moved center fielder Kelly Burdick to second, which allowed Burdick to score on shortstop Sis Bates’ single one at-bat later. The next inning, left fielder Julia DePonte led off with a home run to win the game for the Huskies.
Want a sequel that’s as good as the original? No problem. The next day, UW found itself behind, 3-2, after freshman Gabbie Plain gave up a three-run homer in the sixth. Not to worry — freshman catcher Emma Helm tied the score in the bottom half of the inning with her first home run of the year. Then, in the eighth, Helm scored from first base on second baseman Taryn Atlee’s game-winning double.
These are the types of moments that prevent Tarr from seeing this team as anywhere close to normal. The Huskies, after all, aren’t teeming with the top high-school recruits in the country — but collectively, they’re carrying each other to the top of the college polls.
“It’s any hero any day,” Tarr said. “It’s about great pitching, great defense and clutch hitting. They buy into that. They believe in that.”
It was hard to know what to expect from this team upon losing shortstop Ali Aguilar and outfielder Casey Stangel to graduation. And it became even harder when starting catcher Morganne Flores tore her ACL before the season.
For whatever reason, though, this team continues to exceed the already lofty expectations it placed on itself before the season. Actually, scratch that — the reasons are pretty clear.
For starters, there’s the 1-2 combo of Taran Alvelo and Plain on the mound. Alvelo’s 162 strikeouts and .116 opponent batting average lead the Pac-12, and her 0.78 ERA is third. Plain, meanwhile, led the conference in ERA before her game against Arizona Saturday, but still sits fourth at 0.90.
Last year, Alvelo didn’t have a tag-team partner like she has in the Australian. Now, they’re teaming up to infuriate their foes virtually every time they throw.
“People look at it us like it’s a 1-2, but I see us both as 1’s. We feed off each other,” said Alvelo. “Sometimes, I’m like ‘Gabbie, how do I throw this?’ And she’s just like ‘Oh, mate, just do this.’ It’s nice having a completely different look on pitching.”
But it’s also nice to have the seventh-best run support in the country, as the Washington pitchers enjoy. It’s nice to have players such as Bates, who is hitting .436 with a .512 on-base percentage, or Kirstyn Thomas, who’s belted a team-high 11 homers while owning a whopping .833 slugging percentage. Van Zee’s .402 average and .489 OBP is nothing to sneeze at either, nor are DePonte’s 10 home runs.
Oh, and it’s also nice to have the country’s fourth-best fielding percentage, as the Huskies do at .985. That’s a .12 jump from last year, when UW still managed to make it to the College World Series.
At this point, though, I’m not sure simply making it back to Oklahoma City would be enough for this team. Not after it has shown this combination of power and poise.
People talk all the time about wanting things to “return back to normal.” The Huskies? They’ll take abnormal all day.