Softball Player of the Year

When Marysville Pilchuck softball coach KT Allyn first laid eyes on pitcher Riley Fritz, she didn’t know what to think of her.

The 5½-foot wisp of a freshman didn’t seem to have the frame to develop into a power pitcher, had a fastball that was clocked just north of 50 miles per hour, and wa

s about as intimidating as a ponytail ribbon.

Three years later, Allyn knows precisely what to think of her star pitcher.

After Fritz used her unimposing frame, modest fastball and pinpoint accuracy to carry the Tomahawks to the 4A state title game, the MP coach had no doubt about how dominant her ace can be.

“When you watch her warm up, I doubt her opponents are intimidated. They’re probably saying, ‘I’m going to hit this chick,'” Allyn said with a laugh this week, when Fritz was honored as The Herald’s softball Player of the Year. “Then they get in there to hit, and she earns their respect.”

While Fritz might not be overly intimidating when she gets off the bus, her opponents have learned to respect her arm when she’s standing in the pitching circle. Fritz went 13-3 with a 1.61 ERA during the regular season of her senior year, eventually leading the Tomahawks to a second-place finish at last month’s state tournament.

Using what Allyn calls “pinpoint like a missle,” Fritz has learned to overcome her lack of size (“5-6, almost,” she says) and overpowering speed (upper 50s, with a max of 60 mph).

“Compared to a lot of other really good pitchers, I’m not that big. And I’m not a strikeout pitcher,” Fritz said. “I’ve worked extra hard on accuracy and making good pitches.”

Fritz has been a mainstay on the Marysville-Pilchuck softball team since her freshman year in 2008, when she joined the Tomahawks as a position player and part-time pitcher.

“She was so little, and she threw, well, saying in the mid-50s would be generous,” Allyn said. “She was not someone I thought would be on the radar to be pitching so much.”

Fritz’s accuracy in practice and as a reliever was strong enough that the Tomahawks decided to give her a start against mighty Jackson, and she earned the win.

“Jackson is always a good team, and they’re well-coached,” Allyn said. “I was surprised how well she did against them. It made me want to give her a second, third and fourth look.”

Fritz continued to thrive as a starter during her prep career, due in large part to the tutelage of Steve Rollings and Eve Gaw.

Rollings, whose daughter Megan grew up with Fritz, taught her to pitch and worked with Fritz until she was 13 years old, was pivotal in developing her accuracy.

Before her freshman year, Fritz’s family hired Gaw, a former University of Washington pitching coach, for private lessons. Gaw helped Fritz add pitches to her repertoire, and the Marysville-Pilchuck product continued to hone her game through countless hours of work after practices and during three-day-a-week sessions in the winter.

Eventually, Fritz added a few miles per hour to her fastball, perfected her changeup, added a rise ball and developed consistency with her screwball and curve. She has found a way to become one of the most dominating pitchers in the state — not by overpowering opponents but by painting them into corners.

“I hate walking people,” said Fritz, who did average more than six strikeouts per game as a senior. “For me, I just try to hit my spots the best I can and trust the defense to make plays.”

Fritz, who also hit .432 with a team-high 30 RBI this season at the plate, saw her near-perfect season come to a bittersweet end when she struck out in the final at-bat of a 1-0 loss to Walla Walla in the 4A state title game.

“It’s bittersweet,” the Whitworth University-bound Fritz said of the way her senior year played out. “But overall, I’m really, really happy with how we did. I’ve been playing with some of these girls since we were 8 years old, so you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Considering Fritz’s stature and lack of knockout power, the Tomahawks certainly couldn’t have asked for anything more out of their star over the years.