For the Granite Falls softball team, the past three regular seasons have been filled with monumental success. The Tigers have a combined record of 54-6 in the regular season in those years and with that, three straight 2A state tournament appearances.
But the Tigers have no state trophies for all of their accomplishments.
“If I had the answers for how you can be 54-6 in three years and go to state and what’s it going to take for it to be our day…” Granite Falls coach Candi Reeves said. “If I knew why or why not that would happen than I would write a book and be rich.”
Granite Falls players and coaches hope their fortune changes at state this year, but before the Tigers can worry about postseason success, there is still a long regular season to be played.
Though they are off to a good start, sporting a 4-0 record after Monday’s win over Lakewood.
“The team goals are to get first in our conference, be conference champs, do well at districts and do very well in state, win some games,” said Tigers senior catcher Peyton Spencer, who has been a first-team all-conference selection in each of the first three seasons of her high school career.
Reeves said that it is important for the team to keep its focus and take it one day at a time.
“For me as a coach, I try not to look too far into the future,” Reeves said. “We all know what we want, but I hesitate to talk too far down the road because you play it one game at a time. Certainly it doesn’t matter how you start, it’s how you finish. On any given day anything can happen, it doesn’t matter who the school is. So we aren’t real concerned with who are opponents are. We are just concerned with getting up that morning and knowing that we are going to play ball and be the best that we can be out there.”
Spencer isn’t the only player that has been on the varsity team for all of the success. Senior Logan Thomas, who was named the offensive MVP of the Cascade Conference last season, also goes into her fourth year on varsity.
Thomas said the experience of making it to state with such an impressive record, but leaving without a trophy was difficult.
“Everybody is always looking at us as like the powerhouse and then for us to lose,” Thomas said. “For us to lose, we have all worked really hard for this and it was a big disappointment to all of us. We have all decided that we are going to work really hard this year because it’s a lot of our last years.”
Spencer, Thomas, Jamie Alexander, Haley Brennan and Jessica Mueller are the five seniors on the team.
“We have been playing together for a while, and as seniors we want to do well,” Spencer said. “We are leading the team and the team follows us. They want the same things we want.”
Reeves holds her seniors in high regard.
“I think not only are they good leaders, but they are some of the best ballplayers around,” she said. “They are a close social group. They like to have fun. They know each other inside and out and it just makes it that much more fun to coach them, to stand back and know that I’m going to have that kind of leadership with them.”
But the Tigers are loaded with talent in the younger classes as well.
One of those younger players is shortstop Caitlyn Munce. Munce is one of the captains on the team and her play has made her a highly touted recruit. Like the others, Munce has her eyes set on success on the grandest stage.
“Me personally, I would like to win a game at state,” Munce said. “That would be cool. Hopefully we can win not just one but a few.”
Perhaps one advantage that the Tigers have is that they have been there before — in the case of Spencer and Thomas, many times before.
“It’s really exciting going to state, just like the atmosphere and everything and just knowing that you’ve made it that far,” said Mueller, who has been to state with the Tigers two times.
This season though, the Tigers don’t seem content just getting there. Each player makes it clear that when they get there they want to make some noise and Thomas and Spencer pointed out that the team seems to be more focused than in years’ past.
“I think we are taking it more seriously,” Thomas said.
“I think we are too,” added Spencer. “Going to state three other times and not winning as many games as we wanted, this year we just need to focus. We know what we want and we plan on getting it.”
Some even seem like they have a chip on their shoulders.
“We have some unfinished business, definitely,” Munce said.
Reeves seems to understand how important leaving the state tournament with a trophy is to her players.
“It would mean the world to them,” she said. “Because they know talent wise they are right there. Can we put it all together? You’ve got to make it to state first and that’s not a given. It’s a tough thing to do. I think it would be a dream come true for them.
“They would be so deserving of it.”
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Coach: Candi Reeves
Season overview: The Tigers improved to 4-0 with a victory over Lakewood on Monday. Led by its five seniors, Granite Falls hopes to return to the state tournament this season and — this time — leave with a trophy.
Key players: Logan Thomas OF, Peyton Spencer C/OF, Kimmy Martinez P/OF, Caitlyn Munce SS/2B, Haley Brennan 3B, Jessica Mueller OF/P
Key dates: April 4—at Archbishop Murphy (doubleheader); April 18—at Cedarcrest (doubleheader).
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