PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ Natalie Robinson is taking her powerful arm and bat out to Tri-Cities.
Surrounded by friends and family, the power-hitting Robinson signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play softball at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
Robinson is coming off a monster junior season for the Roughriders in which she hit .533 with nine home runs to lead the team along with Heidi Leitz. She added 12 doubles, three triples and drove in 38 runs. She made the all-Olympic League in softball her sophomore and junior years. In her sophomore year, she hit .459 with six home runs and 22 RBIs.
Her opponents could really be in trouble in her senior season, because she isn’t putting too much pressure on herself and vowed to “just have fun.”
Randy Steinman, who coached Robinson for a couple of years and has watched a number of his players sign to play college softball, said “personally, I think [Columbia Basin] is a wonderful fit.”
Steinman said Columbia Basin led the NWAC in a number of offensive categories last year, which will fit Robinson’s game.
And the program has a winning pedigree as the Columbia Basin coach, Montessa Califano, won a national title at Pacific Lutheran University. Last year, Columbia Basin was 35-15 in the NWAC.
“She hits bombs. She hits home runs like no one else,” Steinman said. “The way she hits the ball is so explosive. She has the quickest hands I’ve ever seen.”
She not only hit nine home runs last year, she hit clutch home runs, with five of them coming in the state 2A tournament.
Steinman also said Robinson has an amazing work ethic. He said there were many times he would drive past the fields at Lincoln Park and Robinson would be all alone at the field, hitting the ball off a tee.
Her newest coach, Morgan Worthington, said Robinson tried her hand at bowling last year and it helped her immensely as a softball player and leader. She said Robinson is a fairly stoic player, but at bowling, she allowed herself more to have fun. Afterward, “everyone noticed her step up as a leader.”
Her grandfather Jeffery Ward spoke on the strength of Robinson’s throwing arm. He said the family once took a camping trip to Neah Bay and Natalie wanted to play catch. There were no balls on the beach, so they started playing catch with kelp bulbs.
“It was terrifying how fast she could throw it. Don’t ever play catch with kelp on the beach with her,” Ward said.
Her father Brent said “as soon as she could walk, she was holding a bat. This is an amazing moment.”
Robinson chose Columbia Basin “because I love the coaches and the players’ attitude. They were friendly and inviting.”
Robinson hopes to play softball at a four-year school when she is done at Columbia Basin. She likes Pacific Lutheran, “but I want to play at as high of a level as I can.”
She has played other sports, such as bowling last year. She played some volleyball and basketball, but has focused pretty strongly at softball much of her high school career.
“I played other sports, but I didn’t love them like I loved softball,” she said.
Robinson wants to continue to be a leader for the younger players in her final year of playing for the Roughriders. She didn’t mention a lot of big goals as far as stats or records.
“I’m going to make it a fun thing,” she said.
Port Angeles’ Natalie Robinson and her family celebrate at Port Angeles High School on Wednesday her signing to play softball at Columbia Basin College in Pasco. (Pierre LaBossiere/Peninsula Daily News)
