Mike Kord, Special to the SeattlePI
Feb. 11, 2021Updated: Feb. 11, 2021 7:47 a.m.
Washington begins the 2021 season ranked No. 2 in the nation, the same position as last March when the season was abruptly canceled. The NCAA is giving players an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic-shortened season, and perhaps no team benefits as much as UW.
Here are eight reasons to believe the hype when it comes to the Huskies.
The Huskies are loaded with talent
Four players, including two “super seniors” who claimed that extra year – Sis Bates and Morganne Flores – were recently named to the USA Softball Preseason Player of the Year Watchlist. Bates is a two-time All-American, and Flores won the 2020 Johnny Bench award, honoring the best catcher in the nation. Joining them is first-team All-American righthanded pitcher Gabbie Plain and sophomore infielder Baylee Klingler.
Second-year freshman Kelley Lynch is perhaps the breakout player who will propel the Huskies to the national title. Lynch, from Newnan, Georgia, was the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year in 2019.
The roster includes locally grown talent, too. Seven players are from Washington State, led by sophomore leftfielder Sami Reynolds (Snohomish).
Heather Tarr is one of the most successful coaches in UW history
Tarr is a die-hard Husky. She grew up in Redmond and played third base on the UW team that finished second in the nation in 1996. Eight years later she took over an already-successful program and turned it into one of the best in the nation.
She has a 659-246-1 record entering her 17th season. The Huskies have made it to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) seven times and the semifinals (equivalent to basketball’s Final Four) six times under Tarr. If the great men’s basketball coach Marv Harshman went to that many Final Fours in his Washington tenure, we would all be traveling in and out of Marv Harshman International Airport.
Tarr’s Huskies won the WCWS in 2009 and took second in 2018. Some players call her the most competitive person they’ve been around.
Many successful coaches downplay the significance of competing for a national title because of the weight of expectations. At UW, the championship is there for the taking, and Tarr enjoys the pursuit.
“I don’t know if the pressure is any greater any one year than it is this year,” Tarr said. “We want that attention.”
They have a superstar pitcher
Gabbie Plain is a senior from Harrington Park, Australia. When her talents became apparent as a teenager, she wasn’t interested in coming to a northern school in America. Why? The same reason you’ve hardly seen your neighbors since September — the weather. But once she visited and saw the beauty of the city and the campus, she was all in.
Plain has a career record of 56-9, a 1.39 ERA, and 521 strikeouts in 418 innings pitched.
As you might have guessed, her teammates have noticed.
“Gabbie is literally a goddess. I am obsessed with her. I mean, come on, Gabbie’s Gabbie. She’s amazing.”
Flores’ view from behind the plate allows her to witness Plain’s devastating repertoire of pitches and unflappable demeanor up close.
“She just always keeps a consistent mood throughout the whole game,” Flores said. “I think that’s a big reason for her success. And then, she’s just so talented. She spins the ball so true each pitch and gets ahead in the count. She was born to pitch.”
You won’t find better role models
The UW roster is stocked with upbeat, engaging, confident, athletic, funny, and intelligent young women. Whether you have a daughter playing softball, a son playing baseball, or even if you’re looking for some inspiration for yourself, this program has a wealth of motivational material.
The team carried a 3.36 GPA in fall quarter, and they embrace their status as role models, too.
“I think a lot of us are in it to be those role models for younger people because we were all once there,” said Flores. “I know there are girls looking up to us and watching our every move, so that’s always in the back of my mind. I want to be a great example for those that are younger than me.”
Football fans can live vicariously through the softball team
The gridiron Huskies have given fans plenty to be proud of in recent years: a college football playoff appearance in 2016, a Rose Bowl appearance in 2019, and their current seven-game Apple Cup win streak.
But when was their last major non-conference victory over a traditional power? The year 2010, when the Dawgs knocked off No. 18 Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. (Trivia question: Who was the UW’s quarterback in that game? Answer, below.)
Last year alone the softball team scored victories over traditional football schools such as LSU, Oklahoma, Florida State, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Michigan, and Northwestern. Admit it. Wouldn’t it feel good to brag about beating LSU? Bonus: they also swept rival Oregon 3-0 the last time the two teams played a three-game series in 2019.
The Dawgs hit the ball all over the yard — sometimes out of it
There is seldom an easy out in the Huskies batting order. The team hit .365 in 2020, good for third in the nation. Bates usually hits leadoff or No. 2 and carried a .529 batting average last season. As a freshman, Klingler hit .481 (21st in the nation) with five home runs and a team-leading 33 RBI. Reynolds, a sophomore in 2020, hit .424. Growing up an hour north of Husky Softball Stadium, there was little doubt where she would take her talents.
“I think I always wanted to be a Dawg because it’s right here in my backyard,” Reynolds said. “And it’s like the coolest freaking place ever. Just watching games and being able to see the water and the boats. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is so cool.’ ”
With 48 career homers, Flores is one of the most prolific power hitters in UW history. In 2019, she belted 24 homers, just one short of the single-season UW record, and 61 RBI to accompany her .348 batting average. She needs 59 RBI to set the program’s career record.
“We typically don’t run a super, power offense,” said Tarr.
But this year, “We’re going to see a little bit of a Murderer’s Row, if you will, with Morganne Flores and Kelly Lynch and Baylee Klingler and Noelle Hee to say the least. We’ve got some righthanded power that we might’ve lacked in years past.”
Lynch is the team’s biggest dual threat. In the batter’s box, she led the team with eight homers and drove in 28 RBI. On the mound, she had a 4-0 record, which included a 7-0 win over No. 5 Florida State, when she threw 5.1 shutout innings and hit a three-run bomb.
Keep an eye on second baseman Taryn Atlee, who hit .441 in 2020, and third baseman SilentRain Espinoza, who made the conference All-Freshman team in 2019 and batted .390 last year.
They’re virtuosos on defense
The Huskies – fourth in NCAA fielding percentage in 2020 – are anything but lacking in the field. Nowhere is that more apparent than at shortstop, where Bates is redefining infield play. Fans voted her the best shortstop in the history of college softball in an ESPN poll, earning twice as many votes as the runner-up, UCLA’s Natasha Watley. She is also the two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Bates dives, dashes, smiles and dances all over the left side of the infield – sometimes all in the same play.
“Defense is super fun,” Bates said with a joyous laugh. “It sounds so funny for me to say that. But seriously, I love it. It’s genuinely fun for me.”
Her last error occurred in May 2019. For context, the song “Old Town Road” was still a thing.
Atlee was a third-team Pac-12 infielder in 2019 and has started 140 of 148 career games at second base, creating a formidable double-play combination with Bates.
The outfield is anchored by speedy centerfielder Jadelyn Allchin and leftfielder Reynolds.
They flourish despite our dreary Seattle weather
Thirty-eight teams have been crowned NCAA champion since the first Women’s College World Series in 1982. Only twice has a team from the north won the title: Michigan in 2005 and Washington in 2009.
The players—14 of whom hail from California or other warm locales —don’t let the frequent rain get to them.
In fact, “We totally take pride in it,” said Tarr. “There’s something to be said about these guys coming here and wanting to be a part of our program. Although it might not be in dirt and 80 degrees, we have a cool learning space and we really take a lot of pride in that.”
Trivia answer: Jake Locker.
Mike Kord is a freelance writer who covers Seattle-area sports for the SeattlePI.
Articles by Mike Kord 