Six seniors and a deep bullpen look to lead Sandpoint softball in 2019

Saying that a team with three-straight regional titles, six seniors and three returning all-league selections wants to bounce back sounds a bit out of place.

But for Sandpoint softball, bouncing back will be much more than a slogan on the back of its warm-ups: It’ll be a necessity for a program fresh off of a two-game outing at the state tournament, and a deep senior class eager to wipe the slate clean.

“We had a lot of doubleheaders last year where we’d play like crap the first game, then Liz would talk to us and we’d bounce back and work together as a team,” Senior third baseman and pitcher Tanis Davis said, especially emphasizing the last five words. “It doesn’t just take skill to build a winning team. It takes being a team. As long as we’re having fun and being an upbeat team, then we could go a lot farther than we think we can.”

If any player on Sandpoint’s roster knows what it takes to take a deep run at state, then it’s Davis.

The senior two-way player is, along with senior catcher Ember Dewey, one of two holdovers from the Sandpoint team that placed third at state in 2016. As the seniors from the 2016 team departed, Davis stepped up and had a record-breaking breakout season last year; not only did she break a 16-year-old record of RBIs in a season, but she also

This season, her head coach Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams thinks Davis is poised for something bigger, citing Davis’s 8-10 miles-per-hour improvement to her fastball over the offseason.

“Tanis has really picked up a lot of speed in the offseason, which is what she had been lacking,” Hawkins-Williams said. “She’s added a lot of speed to her movement now and her change of speed. Even though it’s her third year on varsity, she looks very different as a pitcher than she has ever looked before. Moscow and Lakeland have seen the same pitchers for the past three or four years, so bringing out someone new gives us an advantage.”

That “someone new” could also describe junior pitcher Jaycie Irish and freshman Cresanna Authier, both of whom will be varsity starters. Irish floated from junior varsity to varsity last semester, yet her presence was known by her teammates. Cited as an emotional leader and “the team’s backbone” by her teammates, Irish will have an impact outside the circle as well.

“Last year, Jaycie had a big impact on the team,” Senior first baseman Natalie Petit said. “She pushed everyone but was always happy. It didn’t matter if we were down or if we were in a slump — she was always cheering. I think she’s going to be like that this year too.”

Although Authier could be a JV floater this season — Hawkins-Williams slated her at third in the rotation — her varsity teammates are already impressed with her body of work. Just ask senior Emma Loutzenhiser, who had high praise for the freshman after umpiring one of her starts last season.

“After I saw her pitching, I thought, ‘Dang, she is going to be one of the best pitchers we’ve ever had,’” Loutzenhiser said. “I had this feeling that she was going to make varsity her freshman year. She’s not officially on it — she’s a floater — but if she practices really hard, she’s going to be one of the best.”

Despite having pitching that Hawkins-Williams says is at “5A or even collegiate level” caliber, the Bulldogs have aimed to become an offensive powerhouse during preseason talks.

“They want to be an overwhelming offensive team,” Hawkins-Williams said. “They want to go to a game and they want the other teams playing at the fence the whole game. It’s exciting to me that they have this drive.”

Part of this drive stems from the Bulldogs’ most recent state outing, which still lingers in the minds of some of the returners. During the first-round draw against three-time state champs Middleton, the Vikings run-ruled the Bulldogs by jumping out to a 20-0 lead after three innings. In some of the seniors’ eyes, the offseason work and talented newcomers put the Bulldogs in a position to run-rule teams — and not the other way around.

“I think we can do that,” Senior outfielder/second baseman Madisyn Kucherry said. “Knowing the people I’m playing with this year and how I’ve seen them play in previous years, I think we can honestly do it this year.”

In order for the Bulldogs to become an offensive juggernaut, they will have the unenviable task of replacing the 1-3 and No. 6 hitters in the batting order. Hawkins-Williams admits filling out the order will be the toughest task for this year’s team, however, the roster has a wide enough variety of hitting styles in order to build an effective lineup.

This starts with junior utility infielder Izzo Edwards, who Hawkins-Williams says is due for a breakout season.

“I think she’s going to have a breakout year,” Hawkins-Williams said. “Her slapping in the offseason has improved a ton, she’s fast and she is always the hardest-working person on the team. When you see someone working that hard, they’re almost entitled to that breakout in a season.”

Edwards’ teammates echoed their coach’s assessments while also noting her mental toughness and confidence she exudes on the field.

“Last year she was really trying to get her slaps down, but she didn’t have the confidence to do it and we had another slap hitter in front of her,” Davis said. “This year, she’s really taken charge.”

With Edwards as a natural choice in the lead-off spot, the Bulldogs will rely on Davis, Petit and junior Brooklen Steiger in the heart of the order. Petit, the reigning 4A IEL Newcomer of the Year, wasted no time last season getting acclimated to 4A ball; she led the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball by hitting .317 with two homers, 17 RBI and leading the Bulldogs in drawing walks. Fellow basketball and softball athlete Steiger will follow in the lineup, mostly due to her resurgence as a hitter last season.

“All of a sudden, it clicked for her at the end of the season,” Hawkins-Williams said. “She figured out how to hit: She was hitting home runs and for extra bases while batting in the nine-spot. I feel like she can continue to build on that momentum as well.”

Hawkins-Williams notes that this season’s team will have different challenges than last year’s team. Yet she also says this year’s team is different than any other team she’s coached because the seniors have been vocal about wanting a close-knit team.

“It would be great to win and it’d be great to go to state, but I don’t think we should make winning our main goal,” senior catcher Ember Dewey said. “If a team is better than us, I don’t mind losing to them as long as I know that as a team we worked together.”

Of course, the team’s push for a fun year mustn’t be mistaken for a lack of competitiveness. Talk to the seniors long enough, and their wishes for a fun and successful season become known.

“I do want to be legendary this year,” Kucherry said. “I want us to be that team that everyone talks about for the next couple years and says, ‘The seniors included everyone and they worked so well together. [They] brought up the batting average, were aggressive on the field and their pitchers were throwing perfectly and how they wanted to throw.’”

The Bulldogs’ season-opener is scheduled against Coeur d’Alene on March 8 at 4 p.m.