7/24/08

Coach Schmidt resigns as head softball coach.

Anne Schmidt resigned from the Highline softball program after five years as the head coach. Prior to the head coaching position, she was an assistant for two years. She led her teams to the NWAACC championships in four of the five years. If you are interested in playing softball at Highline College, please email athletic director, John Dunn at jdunn@highline.edu.

5/28/08

Carrie Draeger receives scholarship to attend Pacific Lutheran University.
Sophomore first baseman, Carrie Draeger, will attend PLU in the fall to study journalism. She received over $17,000 in scholarships from the private, liberal arts university in Tacoma, including the $12,000 Provost's Scholarship for academic excellence. Congratulations Carrie and Go Lutes!
Carrie also was awarded one of the Highline Journalism department's Scholastic Achievement Awards for 2008. She was awarded by the NWAACC twice in the last two weeks. She received a spring quarter Academic All-League Award given to all sophomore softball student-athletes with a 3.25 GPA or higher. Even more prestigious is the NWAACC Academic Leadership Award which is given to student-athletes in all spring sports who have 60+ credits, a 3.50 GPA and are involved in community and campus activities. She is one of 26 student-athletes to be honored in the 40 NWAACC schools. The sport of softball had the most recipients at eight.

5/12/08

Season ends with a winning record and trip to the NWAACC tournament.
The trip to the NWAACC tournament was set from pretty early in the season, but what place the team would finish in the West division was a day-to-day question. As the season winded down, it became apparent that the last home game, Sophomore Day, would matter in the standings. Two games separated the second place team, South Puget Sound, and Highline. If Highline won both games, they would take over the second place position. The first game was a 0-0 ball game until Caitlyn Ratcliffe started off the 5th inning with a base hit to left field. Alexis Nichols laid down a sacrifice bunt to move her to second. Alea Litvinenko hit a base hit up the middle, advancing Ratcliffe to third and Alea continued on to second. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Kayla Leliefeld hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop that went between her legs to score both runs. The T-birds held SPS for two innings for a victory. Game two started off well with Highline scoring a run in the second when Leliefeld got on base by an error on the shortstop, Jaclyn Wills sacrificed her to second and Shanna Shepard hit a double to left-center to score Leliefeld. In the third inning,  Ratcliffe hit a single to left field that got by the left fielder and she advanced all the way to third. Litvinenko hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Ratcliffe. Highline played very solid defense until the 5th inning when the T-birds committed 3 errors to allow 3 runs to score. With a couple chances to score in the 6th and 7th innings, the T-birds couldn't push any runs across, losing 3-2. Cara Chaet pitched both games and allowed one earned run. Both games were well-played and the T-birds head into the NWAACC tournament in third place in the West and will face the second place team from the North, Olympic at 9:00 am on May 16th.

4/18/08

At mid-season, T-birds are sitting in third place in the West.
 

Having played fourteen of 30 regular season games before the midway point, the team is holding their own in the league (18-12 overall, 9-5 season). Currently in third place behind Pierce (11-1) and South Puget Sound (9-3), the team took an important 2-1 win against Pierce on 4/12 in the second contest with the number one ranked team. A loss on 4/11 to South Puget Sound makes the battle for the league finish even more important in the next two contests with SPS on 4/26 and 5/9. The team is improving in their defensive communication and coverage; and offensively are producing some good numbers.

Jaclyn Wills against Green River on 4/4/08.   See Schedule & Stats for game details.

4/9/08

Ashley Carey signs a National Letter of Intent to transfer after graduation.

Sophomore catcher Ashley Carey signed a NCAA National Letter of Intent to Division II Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. NSU is in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate conference. She is excited to be able to play two more years of softball and pursue her elementary education degree. She visited the university in January and felt it was the right fit for her education goals and liked the coaching staff. Congratulations!

4/3/08

Preseason wrapped up well for T-birds

The softball team finished the pre-season with a 9-7 record and a strong finish in a tournament in Vancouver. There is still much to learn and improve upon as the regular season begins. The team must improve on some defensive issues that were evident against tough teams and be more consistent on offense, but they are capable of pulling it together. With a busy schedule beginning 4/1 of three double-headers a week, the team will get 30 games in 5 weeks. All this in preparation for the NWAACC championships in Portland May 16-18.

2/7/08

Academic accomplishments for the team in fall quarter.
Last quarter, the team fulfilled one of the on-going goals of the program: to maintain a 3.0 gpa. For fall quarter, the team gpa was a 3.03. And the cumulative gpa bumped up to a 3.06. We make a commitment to academic achievement and the freshman helped continue that priority by earning a 3.11 as a group. Six of the nine freshman earned over a 3.0 gpa. Freshman Cara Chaet was placed on the Vice President's Honor Roll with a 3.67 gpa. Freshmen who earn a 3.5 or higher are placed on the honor roll each quarter. Sophomore Carrie Draeger continues her strive for excellence earning a 4.0 gpa during fall quarter, thus being placed on the President's Honor Roll, quarterly recognition given to sophomores with gpa's over 3.5.

11/17/07

A rainy day planting trees along Des Moines Creek displays the generous spirit of the
team.
The team got together in a torrential downpour for a community service project to plant over 200 trees and shrubs with a King County ecologist. The project was designed to increase the buffer along the Des Moines Creek in downtown Des Moines. Coho salmon spawn up the creek that leads to the Puget Sound. The women dug for two and a half hours and completed a 100 foot area along the creek.