CAMAS — Camas softball pitcher Katie Schroeder is too good.
Seriously, just ask her teammates.
“Sometimes I want Katie to mess up. Just once. I want a ball every once in a while,” said shortstop Tori O’Neill.
She was kidding.
We think.
Schroeder, a senior, is making up for a lost junior season, when she spent days in the hospital battling pneumonia and was never strong enough to contribute from the pitching circle.
Schroeder struck out 11 batters Friday as Camas shut out Skyview 8-0 to improve to 3-0 in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League. The Papermakers are 9-1 overall, 9-0 when Schroeder starts.
The win-loss record is just the simplest statistic to showcase her dominance. More impressive: She has a 1.17 ERA and has 105 strikeouts in 59⅔ innings pitched.
“After I got sick and I was out for such a long time, I knew I had to come back stronger than ever,” Schroeder said. “I just worked hard on all my pitches.
“Getting sick was a blessing in disguise. I had the motivation. It was starting over again.”
Camas catcher Abbi Wong, a freshman, said it was a challenge, at first, to be on the receiving end of such a talent
“She’s not like anyone I’ve ever caught before,” Wong said.
Now it is second nature to Wong.
“It’s so much fun. I love catching for Katie,” she said. “It’s not an opportunity a lot of people get.”
Playing defense behind Schroeder also is a thrill, according to O’Neill. Sure, Schroeder gets a lot of strikeouts, but O’Neill said the Papermakers take pride in battling for her, making sure they have her back when opponents do get the bat on the ball.
It is not just pitching and defense at Camas. The Papermakers also are scoring runs in bunches. Schroeder has a team-high 17 runs batted in, Emma Jimenez has driven in 12, and O’Neill is now batting .486 and has scored a team-high 16 runs.
O’Neill said the Papermakers are trying to get a killer instinct. They know if they put up five, six, or seven runs, they can crush the other’s team’s will.
“Last year, we got too comfortable when we got two runs,” O’Neill said. “This year, even if we jump on them quick, we don’t shut it down. Don’t stop.”
Sure enough, that’s what happened against Skyview. The Papermakers scored two in the first inning — and the way Schroeder has been pitching, that was probably plenty — but then Camas scored five runs in the second inning and the game was virtually over.
They did it the Camas way, too. Nine players got at least one hit, and Schroeder took care of business from the pitching circle, scattering three hits.
