SHORELINE — So much for the theory that change won’t happen overnight.
One season was all the Shoreline Community College softball team needed to transform its reputation from perennial bottom feeder to league title contender.
Bolstered by an exceptionally strong recruiting class, 2003 was the best season in school history for the Dolphins, who qualified for the NWAACC championships for just the third time.
Most telling, their 28-12 overall mark set a school record for most victories and was a far cry from their dismal 3-35 showing the previous year.
“You’re going from the Bad News Bears to the team that everybody has a target on,” co-coach Paul Smiley said.
Though word had gotten out that the Dolphins were fielding a much improved lineup, Shoreline’s breakout season still came as a shock to most of the conference.
“We were considered an underdog and (teams) didn’t think we were worth any competition,” sophomore infielder Aubrey Worthen said. “When we came out and beat them, they definitely thought twice about it.”
At last year’s NWAACC tournament, Smiley received positive feedback from coaches of powerhouse programs like Lower Columbia and Spokane in regards to Shoreline’s unforeseen rise from the cellar.
“They knew they weren’t going to throw their No. 4 pitcher against us anymore,” Smiley said. “They were happy to see it. It’s no fun to go play somebody and kick them.”
Coming off their first winning season since 1998, the Dolphins are determined to prove last year’s success was no fluke.
Shoreline lost its top hitter and a 16-win pitcher, but returns four players from last season, including first-team all-league duo Katy Barstad and Shorecrest graduate Toni Brickell.
Barstad finished fourth among North Division pitchers with a 2.07 earned-run average and went 12-4 in 2003. The Mountlake Terrace graduate fanned 33 of the 102 batters she faced in four preseason games and is on pace to break the college’s career strikeout record.
As the only experienced pitcher on Shoreline’s thin roster, Barstad could log upwards of 200 innings — twice as many as she threw a year ago.
“I think she’s stronger this year,” Smiley said. “She wants to go on to a four-year school and she knows she has to work hard. Her dropball and her curve and her fastball are just so much better and so is her change.”
Barstad was second on the team with a .417 batting average in 2003 and led the Dolphins in at-bats (115) and runs scored (40). Brickell hit .358 and drove in a team-high 35 runs.
Shoreline ranked fifth in the conference with a .363 team batting average last year and has picked up a pair of accomplished hitters in Ashley Unger and Shorewood graduate Jamie Spenard.
Unger hit .600 at a preseason tournament in Richland, with three doubles, a home run, two walks and seven RBI. Spenard was 5-for-12 with five runs and four stolen bases.
The addition of Unger and Spenard also gives Shoreline flexibility on defense. Unger plays first base and outfield and Spenard is comfortable at catcher, shortstop and third base.
Brickell, Worthen, sophomore Jeannette Boyd and newcomer Sydney Stuart are also seeing time at multiple positions.
“We’re a hard-working team,” Stuart said. “We have a lot going for us right now, we just need to put it all together and we can have a great season.”
Low numbers could pose a problem for the Dolphins, who are suiting up just nine players. Smiley hopes to pick up a few more bodies, but pointed out that last year both Shoreline and Edmonds managed to advance to the playoffs with only 10 players on their rosters.
“It’s all going to matter on if we keep healthy,” Smiley said. “If somebody gets hurt then we’re all going to be hurting.”
The Dolphins are slowly starting to reap the rewards that come with being a playoff-caliber team. Profiting from the buzz created by last year’s club, Smiley has already lined up two pitchers to take over for Barstad next season.
Now that Shoreline is viewed as an attractive option for fastpitch prospects, the recruiting process has gone from agonizing to encouraging. The program is selling itself, as players from the two Shoreline high schools to as far north as Ferndale are contacting the coaches.
“That’s never happened at this school,” Smiley said.
Others are taking notice, too.
For the second year in a row Shoreline is rated third in the preseason North Division coaches poll behind defending league champion Highline and Edmonds.
The Dolphins (5-1 league, 6-3-1 overall) have lived up to their hype so far, opening the regular season with doubleheader sweeps of Peninsula and Skagit Valley and a split with Everett.
“It enjoyable that everybody thinks we’re a good team,” Smiley said, “but it just makes it that much harder.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
