All-Region softball: Katie Schroeder of Camas

Anna Aguon, so., Union

Parker Boyd, jr., Battle Ground

Teaghan Cowles, jr., Columbia River

Colleen Driscoll, sr., Mountain View

Abby England, so., La Center

Jessica Flanagan, jr., Woodland

Alexis Kron, sr., Union

Tori O’Neill, sr., Camas

Jamie Phares, sr., Prairie

Samantha Rice, sr., Ridgefield

Morgan Spieth, sr., Union

She was supposed to be the 2 in the 1-2 punch of Camas softball last year, one of the top pitchers in the region even if another one was a senior on her team.

Katie Schroeder’s junior season turned into a punch alright — a knockout punch.

“Last year, when I got sick, it wiped everything out of me,” Schroeder said. “I pretty much had to start at ground zero.”

Pneumonia led to a four-day stay at a hospital last spring, and she would not regain her strength for the rest of the high school season.

A year later, she knew she had to be the ace for the Papermakers.

A year later, Katie Schroeder is The Columbian’s All-Region softball player of the year.

The ace in the pitching circle. The big bat in the lineup. She did it all for the Papermakers.

“I spent all last summer and offseason working to get better,” Schroeder said. “I knew I had to step up and be better than I’d ever been before just because I knew I had a big load to carry.”

Schroeder threw a one-hitter while striking out 12 in the first game of the season, then recorded a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts in the second game. She also homered in both games.

“Maybe I’m not really just this good this week,” she said. “Maybe I actually did get a lot better.”

You be the judge: Schroeder finished the season 22-4 from the circle with a 0.95 ERA and 261 strikeouts in 170 innings. From the batter’s box, she led the team with a .474 average, 33 RBIs, and four home runs.

The Papermakers were on fire to open the season, had a bit of a hiccup with a strange transition in the middle of the year, then righted everything to win league and district titles, then a fourth-place trophy at the Class 4A state tournament in Spokane

One of the most important days, though, was an extra-inning victory over Mountain View in the 4A Greater St. Helens League’s regular season. The Papermakers went through a mid-season coaching change that rocked the team. Camas had lost two in a row.

“At that point, we were, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening?’ If we hadn’t pulled out that win our season would have been completely different,” Schroeder said. “That win gave us confidence.

Her high school career did not go quite as planned, but her final year was one of the best on record in Southwest Washington.

It turns out, the illness was just a temporary setback on the journey to elite status.