CHIMACUM — These are no diamonds in the rough.
The Chimacum baseball and softball teams sneak up on nobody these days.
In the Class 1A Nisqually League, each commands its own little fiefdom.
Both have won three league titles in the past four years. Both have made extended runs in the postseason (in the baseball team’s case, even winning a 1A state title in 2007).
Both are headed back to its respective 1A state tournaments this spring.
And, as has been the case two of the past three years, both have the Nisqually’s most valuable players in Robyn Garing (softball) and Landon Cray (baseball).
In each, one can find the reasons for the Cowboys’ successes on the diamond.
Hard at work
Garing spends a lot of time throwing to her dad in what they call “the barn.”
Winter through summer, she works on her assortment of pitches (fastball, changeup, curveball and screwball) in the converted garage next to their house.
“Robyn and her sister, Kylie, [since graduated], they put a lot of work in, especially pitching,” Chimacum softball coach Bobby Cossell said.
“Out of all the girls out here they put the most work in, so they are going to reap the benefits from that.”
Robyn was nearly lights out on the mound as the Cowboys ace this season, compiling a 6-1 record with a 0.98 earned run average and 43 strikeouts in 43 innings pitched. When she wasn’t on the mound, she patrolled center field with equal aplomb.
As a switch hitting No. 2 hitter, she was also a deadly offensive weapon, having led Chimacum’s starters in on-base percentage (.580) and stolen bases (20) while striking out a team low two times in 52 at bats.
“Her hands are pretty quick, and she just gets the ball in play,” Cossell said. “She battles in there pretty good.
“And she’s worked on her left side quite a bit the last year. I think that helped her out quite a bit, too.”
It’s no wonder she was named the Nisqually MVP her junior and senior years.
“It’s a good feeling, but I don’t want to get big-headed about it,” she said. “I worked hard for it, but there’s a lot of good players on our team that could be mentioned.”
Indeed, the Cowboys hit .384 as a team this season on their way to a 17-2 record (10-0 inleague).
That includes three other regulars (Samantha Benner, Brittany Nelson and Kaycee Hathaway) who hit .450 or better this season.
Just like their senior leader, many of the other Cowboys came out to voluntary practices in the offseason. Several also played together on the Chimacum Crushers travel team, which has its season last through the end of the summer each year.
For some, the work goes all the way back to East Jefferson Little League.
“We have a lot of commitment,” said Garing, who like Hathaway will make her fourth state tournament appearance this spring. “Most of us practice all year.
“We always have a good fielding team, and then we just work on hitting every year, and every year we get better at that.”
Now they are headed to the school’s seventh straight state tournament appearance and have a shot at a district title on Saturday.
Just the start
The baseball team doesn’t have quite the same streak going.
Although given its infusion of freshman talent, headlined by Cray, that might just be a possibility.
One glance at his numbers — .615 batting average, .717 OBP, 28 runs and 24 stolen bases in 17 regular season games — is all it takes to realize what sort of special talent the Cowboys (15-4) will have in their lineup the next three years.
That’s not even including what he did on the mound: 5-0, one save with a 1.96 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings pitched.
“The kid is on base a lot,” Chimacum baseball coach Loren Bishop said in an understatement.
“Even though he was a freshman, he was pretty hard to get overlooked because of his numbers. His numbers pretty much told what he did all year, and he deserved it.”
The fleet-footed center fielder and pitcher — one of three freshman pitchers for the state-bound Cowboys — works hard just like his softball counterpart.
When the high school season is over, he’ll begin playing with a travel team in Seattle (Washington Brewers).
He and most of his teammates began playing together in Little League when they were 5- and 6-years-old. They came up together through the ranks, and while Cray has moved on to travel ball on the other side of the bridges, the others play together for East Jefferson’s senior team.
“The nice thing about it is that most of these kids stay local, so they play together,” Bishop said.
“There’s a certain amount of that togetherness that they have gotten from playing together. Most of the fundamentals these kids know [as freshmen].”
For almost all of them, baseball is their sport. Everything else is just a warm up.
Count senior leaders Chance Eldridge (.453 batting average) and Elijah Roulst (.431 with 22 RBIs) as well as sophomore Devin Manix (.447) among that group.
“It’s just kind of the sport around here,” Cray said.
So is softball. And everyone in the state knows it.
