Bulldog softball plans on outworking its opponents this season

SANDPOINT — It seems like no team was hit harder by a canceled spring 2020 season than Sandpoint softball.

The team had so much promise with Brooklen Steiger, Izzo Edwards, Jaycie Irish and three other impactful seniors leading the way. The athleticism across the team was unmatched and expectations couldn’t have been higher. Many had aspirations of bringing home a state trophy.

The team was able to hold a socially-distanced Senior Night send-off in late May, but that lost season is one they can never get back, and that pain still hasn’t gone away.

“It’s been so hard to move past it that I still haven’t, and I don’t know if I’ll ever move past that season,” head coach Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams said. “I think it’s a bitter taste in my mouth and I think it will linger there for a long, long time.”

The players who are still around from last year’s team feel the same way. It’s an empty void that will never be filled.

“I was sad for a couple weeks about not being able to see what our potential could have been,” senior Kinzie Ward said. “That was the hardest part for me.”

But now the Bulldogs get a chance to get back on the field and heal that pain with some of the best medicine out there — softball.

It’s evident how grateful the team is to have a season, but in the first couple weeks of practice and the season, Sandpoint will have to find a way to make up for lost time.

“We’ve all played together, but it’s been awhile,” senior Riley Cessna said.

Ward and Cessna are the heartbeat of the 2021 Bulldogs and they spearhead a group of seven seniors that includes Madi Garman, Lily Gammon, Jaden Dickinson, Shelby Lanie and Kadence Marble.

If there’s one thing Sandpoint lacks this spring it’s game experience. The team returns six varsity players, but only Ward and Cessna have advanced playing time on the varsity level due to the pandemic. The two started all season as sophomores in 2019.

Given the lack of playing experience, the Bulldogs are taking full advantage of being out on War Memorial Field in early March.

“Being on the field this early, it feels like a miracle,” Hawkins-Williams said.

Typically, Sandpoint is stuffed inside Les Rogers Court for most, if not all, of March. But with the new turf the Bulldogs are able to work on defensive teamwork much sooner, putting the team ahead of where they usually are at this time of year.

“It’s going to be huge for us to be able to do defensive teamwork where we can incorporate infield and outfield together,” she said. “Normally, we’re working on our team defense the first game.”

The surface may be different, but the Bulldogs don’t anticipate many growing pains.

“The advantage is this is going to play a lot like the gym and we spent a lot of our time historically in the gym,” Hawkins-Williams said. “You have a very smooth surface and the ball is always going to play true and it’s always going to bounce consistently, and so for us I really don’t think it’s going to be that hard of a transition for us. I do think it will affect our opponents that don’t get to practice or play on this kind of field a lot.”

Sandpoint will certainly embrace every home-field advantage they can get after a year full of uncertainty. Despite the restrictions, the team was able to run its normal offseason program during the summer and winter.

Ward said the team capitalized on every chance they got to get together over the long layoff.

“We did a lot of offseason practices that were optional, but we all didn’t really consider them optional,” she said. “We all went unless we had a good reason not to.”

Hawkins-Williams said this team’s commitment level can’t be questioned and that attribute will be key to the Bulldogs’ success in 2021.

“This team, they definitely want to be here,” she said. “So far, they have great attitudes and they are very coachable and they work really hard. We’ve already talked about that because that’s what this group is going to need to win.”

On top of the inexperience, the Bulldogs are also at a disadvantage when it comes to summer ball. Sandpoint doesn’t have a club team like its counterparts in Kootenai County, such as district rival Lakeland, who have travel teams that got plenty of action over the summer.

Hawkins-Williams knows her group has some ground to make up and that’s why they are focusing on skill development and understanding the game in the first few weeks of practice.

And with the 4A and 5A Inland Empire Leagues combining this spring, Sandpoint will see the likes of Coeur d’Alene, Lake City, Post Falls and Lewiston more often. To Hawkins-Williams, the schedule doesn’t look any different from when she was an athlete at SHS and she believes the talent of those schools will only make her squad stronger.

“We know we’re going to have to dig a lot deeper to win games because we’ll be playing a lot more skilled teams,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean the Bulldogs don’t have what it takes to get back to state for the first time in three years. All you need is a quick glance at the pitching staff to understand where this team can go.

Garman, a right-handed pitcher, leads the talented staff. Garman has an arsenal of offspeed pitches to keep opposing batters off balance and a great drop ball, Hawkins-Williams said.

“I think she’ll be really good for facing the 5A schools because they’re used to seeing plus-velocity all the time,” she said.

Speaking of velocity, juniors Cresanna Authier and Via Barlow will bring that to the mound this spring, The Bulldogs also have a trio of utility pitchers in Dickinson, Jacey Cash and Kaylee Brackett, a lefty, that give the team a number of different options.

Garman, Authier and Barlow are all expected to be consistent starters, but don’t be surprised if Hawkins-Williams mixes things up in the first couple games to get a better feel for the staff.

“I feel good about our pitching staff,” she said, “and I feel like I know their capabilities really well and at this point, who pitches is going to depend on our opponent.”

As far as the rest of the positions go, Hawkins-Williams is giving everyone a look at multiple spots and will likely throw out a couple different lineups to start the season due to the absence of games in 2020.

Besides pitching, Garman will also see some time in the infield and outfield and she said this team has a unique style.

“All of us are energetic, but we’re all really focused on winning games and the ones that we need to get to state,” she said.

Garman has been playing softball since third grade and nothing else comes close to matching the impact the sport has had on her life.

“Basically, softball is where I have made all of my friends,” she said.

Cessna will likely be Sandpoint’s shortstop this spring and she’s had a career full of ups and downs. As a freshman, she tore her ACL and never got to see the field that season.

After a strong sophomore campaign, Cessna was really hoping to hit her stride last spring, but thanks to COVID-19, the senior will only get to two full seasons on the diamond.

That reality was tough to face, but Cessna has moved on from that disappointment and is focused on taking full advantage of one final chance to compete.

“We’re just going to have fun and enjoy it while we can,” she said.

Cessna and Ward will be leaned on heavily this season for leadership and they plan on doing so with positivity.

“I feel like a lot of [the younger players] are really serious right now,” Ward said. “It is the first week of varsity, but they need to realize that it’s OK to have fun.”

Ward will be all over the field this year as a utility player and plans on ending her career at SHS with a bang and hitting a few home runs.

Ward is excited to see what getting outside so early will do for the team.

“Now that we don’t have to shovel snow or take a tarp off, it’s so nice,” she said. “We just get to come out here and practice.”

Given all the question marks Sandpoint has entering the season, Hawkins-Williams said this year feels a little reminiscent of 2015, her first season as head coach.

She said it’s like a fresh start, which isn’t a bad thing because she’s been in that situation before.

“I don’t really know what they can do and I think they are going to surprise me,” she said, “and I think they will surprise themselves about what they are capable of doing.”

Garman said she loves this team because of their ability to lift each other up.

“Even on a bad day, we still have a good day,” she said.

The Bulldogs open their 2021 campaign at noon Saturday at Lake City.