For all of its offensive prowess in recent seasons, Ridgeview’s softball team remains largely unfulfilled.
The Ravens have been prolific at the plate, averaging 11.0 runs per game in 2017 and a 5A-best 13.3 runs last season. This year, they opened with a 41-0, five-inning win over Wilsonville.
That’s right, 41-0.
But all of that running around the bases has yet to translate into something tangible in the postseason. Ridgeview reached the semifinals in 2014 – its second varsity season – but exited the playoffs with disappointing quarterfinal losses the last two years.
This season, though, has the potential to be much different. With a nucleus of six seniors, an experienced pitcher and some promising young talent, the Ravens are off to a 6-0 start. They are tied for sixth in the OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll.
“I’ve coached a lot of good teams, but the most complete team, if they can stay healthy and on track, would probably be this one,” said Sandy Fischer, who coached Oklahoma State for 23 years before coming out of retirement to start the Ridgeview program in 2013.
“We’ve got seniors that have been very frustrated with going out in the first and second round every year. The will here is very strong to get beyond that this year.”
Fischer is hoping that a change in competition will push her team to a new level. The Intermountain Conference has undergone an overhaul this season, with Mountain View, Bend and Summit moving to 6A, replaced by Pendleton, Hood River Valley, Crook County and The Dalles.
It should provide the Ravens with more of a challenge.
“We know we’re going to have to work really, really hard to win that conference,” Fischer said. “We were a big fish swimming in a pretty small sea for a long time, and it’s easy to get fooled by that. That was part of the problem in the first and second round of the playoffs. Our competition all year long had not been at that level.”
Ridgeview brings back eight starters from last season, including two fourth-year starters in first baseman Natalie Hill and outfielder Taylor Smith. The Ravens also return their No. 1 pitcher in junior Allicitie Frost, who transferred from Bend as a sophomore.
“She’s got more movement on her pitches and she’s more mentally tough,” Fischer said of Frost. “We’ve worked on the mentality about being a pitcher and not a thrower.”
The offense, which has scored 100 runs through six games, promises to be explosive. Sophomores Sage McVay and Kiana Nakamura set the table at the top of the order for Frost and freshman Teagan Reams, who bats cleanup.
“We have a lot of speed at the top, and we have a lot of power,” Fischer said. “All the way through the lineup, they all can hit at any time. They’re proud of their hitting, and they work hard at it.
“We have good pitching and we have solid defense. So if we can get all those pieces to work together consistently, then we have as good a chance as anybody else.”
