Herald staff
MUKILTEO – When Kelli Johnson’s father handed her a passport, the Kamiak senior pitcher thought her father had gone nuts.
“I told him, we go to Canada once in a while, but that’s about it,” said Johnson, who is one of only two high school players to be selected to play on a USA Softball junior national team next January in France. “When he told me I was going to France, I couldn’t believe it.”
Team USA will play in The World Cup Jan. 9-17 at an indoor softball complex in Lyon, France. Johnson, a left-hander, was noticed by USA Softball officials at the National Softball Association World Series in Columbus, Ohio this summer when she led her team, the Northwest Classics, to a 25th place finish out of 180 teams.
Johnson was 4-1 in that tournament, and also had a 0.56 earned run average and averaged 15 strikeouts per game in leading the Classics to a second-place finish in the Junior Olympic Tournament in Orlando last July.
Johnson said she was “shocked” when she learned she had been selected.
“I didn’t think I pitched as well as I could have (in Columbus),” Johnson said. “I didn’t even have all of my pitches.”
Johnson said playing in the World Cup is a step toward her dream.
“My ultimate dream is to play in the Olympics,” Johnson said. “This is really exciting.”
“The closest comparison I can think of is Barry Sanders,” King’s coach Jim Shapiro said. “When he gets past the line of scrimmage, he just has vision that is God-given. He just flat-out jukes.”
Shapiro said Matsamoto, who gained 600 yards as a backup last season, wanted to atone for his three fumbles a week earlier. After pulling the 5-foot-10, 195-pound running back early in the third quarter, Shapiro realized that Matsamoto had 275 yards, and elected to give the team captain a shot a 300. Two carries later he had 296 yards.
“We told him to get the four yards and go down,” Shapiro said. “And he actually took it about another 30.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
