SEATTLE — Sami Reynolds sat at the dais during the University of Washington softball team’s preseason press conference Wednesday afternoon, recounting the story of Huskies coach Heather Tarr giving her a hand-written note when Reynolds attended a Huskies camp as a youth player.
“The note on the sheet said, ‘How good can you get with hard work?’” said Reynolds, who still has the note safely stashed away at her Snohomish home. “From that day forward, when I was maybe 10 or 11, I used that to my advantage and it has been with me ever since.”
“I’d like to actually see it, make sure it’s my handwriting,” Tarr quipped when she took the dais a few minutes later.
While it was a light-hearted moment that provided a glimpse into Reynolds’ history with UW, the fact the sophomore outfielder and Snohomish High School graduate found herself on the dais at all — sitting next to two senior leaders of a team ranked by one preseason poll as the best in the country — was an indication of how quickly Reynolds’ star has risen.
The Huskies open their season next week seeking the national championship that’s eluded their grasp the past three seasons, and Reynolds, in just her second year, is already a central figure in those efforts.
“It feels awesome (being a sophomore),” Reynolds said. “It’s definitely nice having a year under my belt, but it has not changed my mentality at all. If anything it’s amped it up, made me a little more hungry.”
Washington begins its season on Feb. 7 at the Buzz Classic in Atlanta, with games against Ohio and Georgia Tech. The Huskies, who reached the Women’s College World Series semifinals last season and in 2017 and were the national runners-up in 2018, are the top-ranked team in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association preseason poll and second to Alabama in the D1Softball.com preseason poll.
Reynolds is expected to be one of the team’s top players. Last season, Reynolds played left field and held down the No. 3 spot in the order, batting .330 with five home runs and 43 RBI in 58 games. She topped it off with a spectacular performance at the Women’s College World Series, batting .438 and making a string of spectacular defensive plays as she was named to the All-Tournament Team.
“I’m not going to say I have a crystal ball and say, ‘I told you so,’” Tarr answered when asked if she expected Reynolds to have that kind of instant impact. “But I would tell you when she was 10 or 12 years old you could see she had what it took to be a good hitter at this level. She has contact ability, she’s a hard worker, she believes in what she’s doing. So when you see a player like that achieve those things you look back and go, ‘OK, yeah, there’s no reason why she shouldn’t have been able to do that.’ Obviously we’re expecting more from her this year.”
The opposition is going to know more about her, too. Reynolds is no longer a freshman, which means she’ll no longer be sneaking up on anyone.
With that in mind, Reynolds knows she’s going to have to be more disciplined at the plate this season as opposing pitchers give her fewer pitches to hit. She also spent the summer on campus taking courses, meaning she was able to use the facilities to get stronger — something Tarr hopes turns some of Reynolds’ team-leading 15 doubles last season into homers this year — and work on her swing. Reynolds spent a particular amount of time refining the sequencing in her swing, making sure her hips are leading her hands rather than having all the motion happen at once.
“Lonely work is something that I value,” Reynolds said. “Teaching myself and learning parts of my body and parts of my swing I wouldn’t really get in more of a group setting, it’s nice for me to focus on lonely work and do those things by myself. It’s kind of nice for those few months. Then obviously I miss my teammates and I want them to come back.”
While Reynolds is expected to play a major role for the Huskies this season, no one was saying exactly what that role will be. The graduation of Amirah Milloy leaves a hole in center field, and moving Reynolds from left to center is one of Washington’s options. On offense, Reynolds is not guaranteed the No. 3 spot in the order again, but Tarr said she envisioned Reynolds being a middle-of-the-order bat.
As for the Huskies as a whole, everything seems to be in place. Washington has an All-American ace pitcher in Gabby Plain. The Huskies return eight of their nine lineup regulars, including Meadowdale High School graduate Emma Helm who served as the team’s primary designated player. And Washington had perhaps the top recruiting class in the country, led by Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year Kelley Lynch, a pitcher/first baseman from Newnan, Georgia.
So is it national championship or bust for the Huskies?
“It’s always like that every year,” Reynolds said. “I can’t imagine anything different. That’s how I experienced my freshman year. With this program, if you’re here you’re hungry and you know what you want and you have a mission, and the only mission is to win the College World Series. It’s to win games and develop, learn, grow. But the ultimate goal is to win the last game played in (Oklahoma City). Why wouldn’t that be your mindset if you do come here?
“I’m just so excited,” Reynolds added. “It’s going to be another great year, I can just feel it.”
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