Hudson’s Bay had its day in the sun last fall, and nearly had another.
It did for football, reaching the postseason for the first time in a decade.
And it nearly did for slowpitch, a sport established to balance out football as part of the Title IX initiative, if weren’t for what coach Tony Christiansen described as one of the worst games his team played in a winner-to-state contest against Skyview.
But the double-digit wins on a memorable 12-6 fall season became a high point for a program that features four dual-sport players — slowpitch and fastpitch — and seeking to use the fall success as a springboard into the spring.
Slowpitch continues to gain momentum at Clark County schools. The sport got established locally five years ago to create equal opportunity in the fall sports season.
As a non-sanctioned Washington Interscholastic Activities Association sport, slowpitch attracts athletes cut from other fall sports or who might otherwise not participate in high school athletics.
That’s no different at Bay. Christiansen, who coaches both the slowpitch and fastpitch teams, had close to 20 fall players and growth in numbers isn’t the only positive once the calendar reaches spring.
“Since slowpitch came in,” he said, “we’ve gotten better in fastpitch because they’re gotten more innings. It’s definitely helped us.”
What’s helped, too, is player crossover. Pitcher Regan Kelly, second baseman Lizzie Deloria, shortstop Erica Morley and center fielder Elie Erickson are experienced in both sports.
Kelly, whom Christiansen described as the team’s top hitter, earned slowpitch all-league honors along with Morley. She also will handle a lot of the pitching duties.
While the notable differences might be obvious, one similarity between the two sports that’s benefited the Eagles is fielding. Unlike fastpitch, there’s no stealing or bunting in slowpitch, meaning more balls in play. And defense happens to be Bay’s strength, said Christiansen, the GSHL slowpitch coach of the year.
“We have a good defense,” he said, “and we can hit. On that side of it, we’re competitive with other teams.
“This group of girls played those positions in slowpitch and that’ll carry over.”
