SEQUIM — Mel Hendrickson never had it so good.
Armed with a lineup loaded with speed and power, the Sequim softball coach is blessed with an embarrassment of riches this spring.
The batting order pretty much fills out itself.
“It makes my job easy,” Hendrickson said. “I just put the fastest power hitter ahead of the other ones. That’s basically what determines it.
“Because they can all hit home runs . . . especially the 3, 4 and 5 [hitters].”
Hendrickson isn’t joking.
The Wolves smashed five homers in their last two games alone, contests that ended in double-digit victories.
That included a stunning 11-0 drubbing of archrival Port Angeles, a group that returned several players from its Class 3A state team of a year ago.
“We hit the snot out of the ball from the beginning,” Hendrickson said of the win.
“I knew we were going to be good. I didn’t know how good we were going to be until the PA game.”
It doesn’t just boil down to the heart of the Wolves order at 3-4-5 — juniors Lea Hopson (3) and Maddy Zbaraschuk (4) and sophomore Demiree Briones (5).
Even freshman Amariah Clift got in on the act Monday, bashing one of the Wolves’ three home runs against the Roughriders.
It’s an uncommon attribute in the small-ball centric world of high school softball; one that may just put the Wolves in the 2A state tournament for the second straight year.
“This is the best lineup I’ve had in my eight years here as far as speed and power,” Hendrickson said.
Yes, it’s even better than the 2007 state team that featured future college players Chantal Hughes-Gardner, Yolanda Chinn and Marquita Espinoza, according to Hendrickson.
“That was only three hitters,” he said. “I’ve got one through eight . . . nine actually. It’s looking pretty good.”
Indeed, the Wolves (5-0 overall) have put double-digit runs on the scoreboard in four of their five games this season.
Zbaraschuk has jacked three home runs already and Briones one, while Hopson has three multi-hit games in the last week.
That doesn’t even take into account all of the other extra-base hits scattered across the lineup.
“I think everyone likes the spot where they are at,” Hopson said. “It just adds to the intensity. Everybody feeds off each other and it just works out well.”
Could it be attributed to the movement of the pitcher’s mound back three feet from 40 to 43 prior to this season?
It’s certainly easy to argue it benefitted the Wolves more than others.
Returners Cindy Miller and Chelsea Winfield each had at least 15 RBIs and hit over .400 last year.
And Hopson and Zbaraschuk each hit eight home runs with 22 and 38 RBIs, respectively.
There wasn’t a single team on the North Olympic Peninsula that had even one player matching those power numbers last year.
So any rule change that benefits the offense would have to work in Sequim’s favor.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Hopson, Sequim’s starting shortstop.
“It’s a big deal for me. It slows the whole game down it seems like. The pitchers are a lot slower this year.”
Yet that would be ignoring another thing the Wolves have going for them.
Several of their players — including Hopson, Zbaraschuk and Briones — play loads of games with club teams during the offseason in the Seattle area.
That, along with the fact the Wolves are all a year older, has to play a big part in the team’s offensive development as well.
“It helps a ton,” said Zbaraschuk, a catcher who plays with the Diamond Dusters out of Tacoma.
“Being able to play six games a weekend you definitely get a lot of game time, so you’ll be really prepared for games.”
Briones has also put a lot of time in on the mound in addition to at the plate.
Whatever negative effects the rule change had on Sequim’s ace haven’t been apparent so far.
The sophomore right-hander even thinks it’s benefitted her.
“Last year when I was throwing pitches it broke in the middle of the plate instead of before it,” Briones said. “So I think it’s helped a lot with my dropball.
“And when I work in my screwball it should help, too.”
The results certainly back up her statements.
Briones pitched a three-hit shutout against perennial 1A state power Chimacum and was lights out against Port Angeles as well.
“Demiree definitely adjusted very well,” Zbaraschuk said.
“She can put a lot more movement on the ball, so even if there might not be speed on the pitch there is definitely more movement on it.”
Power and pitching?
It might be getting too easy for Hendrickson.
