MILL CREEK — Allie Thomsen spent the majority of her sophomore softball season watching from the sidelines during Jackson High School’s 2023 state title run.
Now the Timberwolves’ star junior is back and better than ever, and she’s fully recovered from surgery to repair a nagging torn labrum in her hip before what was supposed to be a breakout season last spring.
The 5-foot-11 two-way threat, who verbally committed to NCAA Division I powerhouse Washington in February, is serving as a key option in multiple positions as the Timberwolves drive toward another state championship.
“It’s the best feeling ever,” Thomsen said. “Getting to be back and being able to continue to grow with this team has been the best thing of the year for me. … Not being able to play the sport I love the most, it was definitely very mentally tough to stick with the process.”
Thomsen does it all for the Timberwolves.
She’s been on a tear in Jackson’s lineup card, batting a red-hot .516 on the year with nine homers while holding a .587 on-base percentage and 1.032 slugging rate. That’s an improvement from her impressive freshman season two years ago, when she batted .390 with 10 homers as she’s blossomed into one of the state’s top hitters.
“You can tell in her movements and her demeanor that she’s healthy and she’s having a lot of fun,” Jackson coach Kyle Peacocke said. “She so athletic, and she has so much natural power. Adding to what we already have in our lineup, it just makes us really, really dangerous.”
Thomsen’s bat work has helped create a dynamic four-headed hitting combination with seniors Yanina Sherwood (.451 batting average), Rachel Sysum (.484) and Hailey Pelletier (.407).
On the defensive side, not many balls get past Thomsen when she’s in the outfield or at first base, let alone past Sherwood in the circle or Sysum’s glove in the infield.
“They make it super easy,” Thomsen said. “Getting to be at first base in an infield environment I think is super fun. … I really don’t have to stretch that much, they make it easy and I get to turn double plays. The energy is just different in the infield.”
Thomsen even helps out in the circle. She pitched 37 innings as a freshman in 2022, recording a 1.50 earned-run average. Peacocke planned for Thomsen to spend more time in the circle as a sophomore, but Thomsen’s injury, along with the breakout of reigning Washington State MaxPreps Player of the Year Sherwood, made fitting Thomsen back into the pitching lineup not as critical of a need for the team. So far she’s pitched four innings with six strikeouts this spring, and Thomsen says she’s good to go if the situation ever arises.
“I’ve thrown a little bit,” Thomsen said. “But I’ve mainly been playing first because Yanina’s a boss. Yanina’s got the field and I’m just here to back her up and if I need to go in, I’m ready to go in.”
Sysum, who also plays with Thomsen and Sherwood for the AI Bandits Breer club program, said its easy to notice the level of impact Thomsen brings to the group.
“She’s brought a big presence outside the field and on the field, and that brings our energy up,” said Sysum, who set the program’s all-time home run record earlier in the year. “And I’ve been struggling myself a bit, so having Allie at the top of our lineup kind of allows me to have less pressure on myself and just keep going.”
Sysum also doesn’t mind having a prime option with height making plays from her throws to the first base bag.
“Sometimes I airmail them because I know she can get them,” Sysum quipped. “But I think I just have good trust with her, and even when I do have a bad throw I know she’ll still go get it.”
Although she wasn’t yet at 100%, Thomsen still got her opportunity to assist her squad in taking home a Class 4A state championship trophy at the end of the 2023 campaign, getting cleared for the state playoffs in time to deliver a three-RBI base hit in Jackson’s 5-1 state title victory over Glacier Peak.
Now her swift resurgence has Jackson (17-1 overall, 5-0 Wesco 4A) primed for another deep postseason push, as the Timberwolves finish off the last of their regular season schedule ahead of next weekend’s 4A Bi-District tournament, where they’ll look to repeat as district champs.
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