The Herald’s 2026 Softball Player of the Year: Addi Anderson

Published 12:49 pm Sunday, June 28, 2026

There’s no question who’s in control when Stanwood High School’s Addi Anderson is in the softball pitching circle.

Most of Anderson’s electricity flows through her right arm when she delivers a 64 mph fastball, but there are plenty of sparks left for the fire she displays in big moments of games.

Earlier in her softball career, though, she brought nerves with her into the batter’s box, often leaving the confidence behind that factors into her being one of the state’s most dominating pitchers. Her ability to bring some extra fireworks to the plate this season helped the Spartans place third in the Class 3A state tournament in May. Anderson’s excellence as both a pitcher and a hitter led to her being named The Herald’s 2026 All-Area Softball Player of the Year.

Anderson put in the work during the offseason, spending time before first period at the high school to work on a swing which led to her batting .419 with seven home runs, 33 RBI, 19 walks and 11 stolen bases during Stanwood’s 23-5 season. She struck out just 14 times in 28 games while recording a .548 on-base percentage and a 1.143 OPS. The extra hitting work led to a key factor for any hitter:

Confidence.

“It’s so important,” Anderson said. “I feel like it’s the key importance to hitting is stepping up to the plate with full confidence, knowing that you can hit any pitcher that’s out there if you really have your vision and timing.”

The Spartans lost four seniors after a run to the state quarterfinals in 2025, and only one senior played for Stanwood in 2026. That meant it was time for Anderson and her fellow juniors to mature quickly for any chance at another run at state. It turns out that Anderson, who is a pitcher only for her Washington Ladyhawks travel team, can hit a bit, too.

Anderson powered the Stanwood offense in the postseason, leading the way with a .478 batting average and four homers.

“I don’t know if she knew how good she was as a hitter,” Stanwood head softball coach Patrick Ryan said. “I knew how good she was after watching her last year. …And then coming again this year and hitting in the high 400s, I just knew she had to buy into it herself, and when she did, you saw it in the playoffs.”

A thinker while in the circle, Anderson tried not to overthink with a bat in her hands. The mental gymnastics some batters go through trying to guess what a pitcher might be throwing faded. It became a game of see ball, hit ball.

“I feel like once she has the confidence that she can beat this pitcher, she’s going to do really well,” Stanwood junior shortstop Jemma Lopez said. “So it’s just getting over the first hump. … Now, she really attacks the pitch that she wants. If she sees if you bleed the pitch middle, she’s gonna hit it, and it’s probably gonna be a home run.”

In 2025, Stanwood entered the Class 3A state tournament as the No. 1 seed, but did not place after a 5-4 loss to Garfield in the quarterfinals and a 14-1 blowout consolation bracket loss to Mt. Spokane.

This season, the young Spartans were seeded sixth and advanced to the semifinals for the first time in school history. No. 2 Mt. Spokane got them again this season in the semis, but this year, Stanwood showed more resolve in the consolation bracket. The Spartans bounced back with wins over No. 8 Inglemoor and No. 4 Roosevelt for a strong third-place finish.

“The juniors ended up stepping up and taking that leadership role, and then we were all just surprised with how far we made it,” Anderson said. “We worked really hard, and we were always practicing really late, extending the practices. A couple of the girls after practice would hit. We worked out in the morning before school, hit for like an hour and a half before school, just to get those reps in before practice.

We knew that we had to work harder because we were younger, and making it that far meant a lot to us. And we were relieved with how well we ended up playing with us working that hard.”

While her bat has come a long way, Anderson’s pitching is what has college coaches interested in her future after high school. After being named The Herald’s 2025 Softball Pitcher of the Year, Anderson followed that up with more pitching dominance. Anderson threw 121.2 innings in 2026, finishing with a 1.09 ERA, a .159 batting average against, 187 strikeouts, and just 32 walks.

“She always has a confident aura about her, and I know that she has my back,” Lopez said. “She’s not really scared of any batter. She kind of has the attitude that she knows she’s better than the batter up, and even if something doesn’t go in her favor, she doesn’t get a sad face or anything, so that gives me confidence to play behind her.”

After losing only one senior to graduation, much will be expected of the Spartans in 2027. While her brashness will likely be on display again next spring, Anderson made no bold predictions for her senior season. Like the work she put in during the offseason last year, she’ll stick with the one-day, and one-game-at-a-time approach that led to her adding hitting success to her pitching dominance in 2026.

“Just learn and grow more with the team,” Anderson said of her expectations for next season. “Because I know we have at least five or six freshmen, so again we’ll have another young team. But we also have five juniors this year that will now be seniors for the upcoming year. So, I think that’ll be good, and I think we’re going to have a really good season.”