As a senior athlete at Arlington High School in 2013, Ronnie Ladines experienced both severe disappointment and great elation.
The disappointment came at the Class 4A state basketball tournament in the Tacoma Dome, where a finger injury kept her from playing during Arlington’s run to the state championship game. She could only watch as the Eagles placed second with a loss to Mead in the final game.
The elation came a few months later as Ladines, a finalist for The Herald’s 2013 Woman of the Year in Sports, led Arlington to a Class 4A state softball championship.
Though she missed some of the early season and then played the rest of the season with her finger not fully healed — no small thing, given that the injury was on her pitching hand — she was outstanding in leading the Eagles to the title. She went 12-1 in the regular season with a 0.17 earned-run average.
At the state tournament in Spokane, Ladines continued to excel, going 4-0 and striking out 55 of the 104 batters she faced. She was in the pitching circle as the Eagles bested Camas 2-1 in the championship game.
Ladines, who also contributed offensively by smacking 10 home runs in roughly half a season, is continuing her softball career at the college level as one of the top pitchers for Kent State University.
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