Emma Helm doesn’t see herself as the only cleanup hitter on the Meadowdale softball team.
The Mavericks’ No. 4 hitter says the entire Meadowdale lineup — which is averaging 13 runs per game — is comprised of players who can wipe runners off the bases.
But Helm is clearly a catalyst for the Mavericks’ offense, which has tallied 38 home runs this season. Ten of those have come from Helms, a junior who hopes to add to her total at the 3A state tournament this weekend at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey.
“I know that if I don’t have a super great game at the plate, everyone else is going to pick me up. It doesn’t really feel like I’m in the cleanup spot,” said Helm, who is making her third consecutive trip to state. “It just kind of feels like I’m at any spot because there’s always people on base for everyone. Basically, everyone’s the cleanup hitter.”
Helm has been an offensive force from the time she arrived at Meadowdale. Mavericks head coach Dennis Hopkins had coached Helm prior to Helm’s arrival as a freshman and knew he was getting a special talent.
“She’s just one of those kids that, back when she was in junior high and I was coaching her, she had a goal that she wanted to play (Division-I) softball,” Hopkins said. “She’d come in to practice 15 minutes late because she went to work out before practice. That’s how dedicated she is.”
Helm, a left-handed catcher, is hitting .581 this season, with 10 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, 54 RBI and just four strikeouts in 74 at-bats. She is one of the feared hitters in the Northwest District.
“Every time she steps in the batters box, I’m nervous,” said Marysville Pilchuck head coach Aaron Zachry, whose Tomahawks faced Helm and the Mavericks twice in the past week and a half. “She’s a good hitter. She doesn’t try to do too much to the ball. … We kept her at bay in the first game, but we pitched around her twice. We respect her enough that if there’s a base open, we’re not going to throw to her.
“There aren’t a lot of girls in our district we do that for.”
Hopkins said Helm’s background as a catcher helps her analyze opposing pitchers.
“She has one of the most dedicated at-bats of probably any player I’ve seen,” Hopkins said. “She’ll usually take the first strike, figures out what the pitchers want to do — being a catcher she tries to figure out what the pitchers try to think — and adjusts and hits the next one.”
The Meadowdale coach has seen a lot of maturity from Helm over the past three years. Hopkins said Helm has gone from trying to crush the ball to utilizing a more balanced offensive approach.
“In the last couple of years she’s spent a lot of time going for the long ball — because she can do it,” Hopkins said. “But this year she’s hitting the ball and moving runners. Her maturity has really developed. It’s tough to be a 15- to 18-year-old and realize the weight of the game is really on your shoulders when you’re catching. She doesn’t let it bother her and does all she can to make it work for the pitchers.”
The Mavericks’ offense, which has helped lead Meadowdale (20-3) to four consecutive Wesco 3A South titles, failed to score 10 or more runs just three times this season. Those three games — against Oak Harbor, Mountlake Terrace and Marysville Pilchuck — happen to account for Meadowdale’s only losses of the season.
“I feel like we just all try to go up with a team mentality that we just want base hits,” Helm said. “It just happens. We’re definitely not trying to hit home runs. Hits, in general, are contagious. When you have that power, we just feed off each other.”
Meadowdale hopes to continue its offensive prowess at this weekend’s 3A state tournament. It’s the fifth consecutive trip to state for Hopkins and the Mavericks, who have brought home a pair of third-place trophies.
The Mavericks have been focused on getting back to state and improving on last year’s finish since defeating Prairie 13-9 in the third-place game a year ago.
“They’re all on that same page that that’s what they want,” Hopkins said. “There’s no one person that’s saying, ‘We need to get there.’ It’s the whole team going, ‘We’ve been there. It’s time to finish it all.’ They’ve all bought into it since the beginning of the season, saying, ‘If we make it. This is what we want to do.’”
Hopkins said the state tournament, which is a double-elimination bracket where the only team to post a 4-0 record takes home the championship, is a unique challenge for players and coaches alike.
“Every one of the other 15 teams are your equal,” he said. “They didn’t get there just because they wanted to. They got there because they play well. And occasionally you go up against a team that’s on fire and you have a bad day down there. One bad day and it’s all over.
“It plays on you really hard. It’s like you’re on a roller coaster. At one point you’re at this extreme high, everything’s going great. The next minute you’re down as low as you can get. You just have to stay on the roller coasters for two days and hope you finish on a high.”
Helm, who has verbally committed to the University of Washington, said the Meadowdale players know what they have to do to finish on that high note.
“We know that we always need to go to the right in the bracket,” Helm said. “We know what it’s like to lose.
“We’re prepared to go in there and get our business done.”
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