Fastpitch Outlook: Woodinville primed

Raising his youngest daughter put years of strain on Jeff Boughton's knees.

But he was feeling no pain last spring when Lindsay Boughton and her Woodinville teammates rolled to an unbeaten season and the Class 4A state fastpitch-softball championship.

As the Falcons' No. 1 pitcher, Lindsay Boughton posted a 20-0 record with a 0.37 earned-run average while striking out 151 and allowing just 63 hits in 132 innings.

After earning her second consecutive KingCo 4A MVP award, she capped the year by striking out 12 and allowing just three hits in Woodinville's 7-1 championship victory over Prairie of Brush Prairie.

Not bad for a player who seemed destined to don catcher's gear as a youngster in California.

"Her sisters and her brother all played catcher," said Jeff Boughton. "But she said, 'I think I'd rather be a pitcher.'

Watch list


Some of the top fastpitch players in King and Snohomish counties

C/SS Amy Aicher, Snohomish, Sr.

P Teresa Brabant, Bishop Blanchet, Sr.

C Jade Clare, Beamer, Sr.

P Kandis Clesson, Mount Si, Sr.

P Ashley Forsberg, Monroe, Sr.

1B Annika Lindberg, Edmonds-Woodway, Sr.

P Cory Mattson, Everett, So.

P/OF Karli Merlich, Kennedy, So.

P Sarah Minice, Sammamish, Jr.

P Kelsey Reynolds, Kentlake, Sr.

P Ashley Sellers, Auburn Riverside, Sr.

2B Bailey Stenson, Auburn, Sr.

P Megan Trudell, Holy Names, Sr.

"I didn't know I'd have to do so much catching over the years."

Now it remains for the rest of Washington's 4A programs to catch the Falcons, who count eight college-bound seniors among the returnees from the 2005 championship squad.

Woodinville's winning streak ended at 28 games Tuesday in a 3-2, eight-inning loss to Tahoma, but Boughton said the Falcons (2-1) never have emphasized perfection.

"I think we all probably knew it was our year," Boughton, 18, said of last season's championship run. "It was pretty cool, but no one expected to go undefeated. It was the cherry on top."

En route to a 27-0 season, the Falcons outscored opponents 175-10, including 19-4 in their four-game sweep at state.

And Boughton, who has signed with Idaho State, is merely another member of a deep and talented senior group that first played together as 10-year-olds. Those players won three Little League state championships before moving on to Woodinville, a three-year high school, as sophomores.

With all that firepower, it isn't enough for an opponent simply to score on Boughton, who boasts a six-pitch arsenal. The Falcons roughed up Prairie for 14 hits in last season's state-title game.

"That's one of the best 1-through-9 hitting teams I've ever seen in high school in my years of coaching," said Prairie coach Al Aldridge, a 27-year veteran.

The Great Eight


The Woodinville seniors who have signed or committed to play college fastpitch next year:

P Lindsay Boughton, Idaho State

1B/C Dani Weir, Boston College

SS/2B Brynn Lewis, Long Island/Brooklyn

C Amanda Fleischman, Washington

OF Keely Helbock, San Diego

OF/SS Erin Fisher, Fordham

OF/IF Ashley Wick, Western Washington

2B/P Sarah McEnroe, Western Washington

Boughton likened it to playing for a select team. Woodinville coach Jim Weir, who coaches the Absolute Gold 18 program that features Boughton, UW-bound Amanda Fleischman, Brynn Lewis and his daughter, Dani Weir, agreed.

"I could have taken that state team last year and gone against any 18 'A' team, and even against any 18 Gold team," said Weir, who spent four years in the San Francisco Giants organization in the 1980s. "We wouldn't have been the best, but we'd have been above average."

The Falcons were not at full strength when they opened the season this week with a 3-1 win over Newport of Bellevue on Monday and Tuesday's extra-inning loss to Tahoma.

Five veterans were members of the Woodinville basketball team that placed seventh in the Class 4A state tournament Saturday and have not fulfilled minimum-practice requirements.

And Weir was wrapping up a two-game suspension for violating the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's out-of-season coaching policy. Weir, the founder of the seven-year-old Woodinville Reign youth program, said he was on a field in his capacity as president of the organization in August while a group of 10- to 14-year-olds were trying out for teams. He has since resigned as president.

"It didn't hurt me; it hurt the kids," Weir said of his absence from Tuesday's loss. "I've never felt I let a team down so much in my life."

With Weir and the five veterans unavailable, Woodinville has started three sophomores in its games this week. While making the transition to high-school ball, the first-year players are also trying to live up to the standards set by the current seniors.

"I think these sophomores are a little in awe," said Weir, who was back in the dugout for Wednesday's win over Sammamish. "They're looking at an Amtrak train going by at 80 miles an hour and the seniors are saying, 'C'mon, hop on!' "

For Boughton, the next stop will be an Idaho State program that is being revived in 2007 after it was dropped nearly 25 years ago. She is part of an inaugural recruiting class that includes Mount Si pitcher Kandis Clesson and Kentlake shortstop Merissa Jannsen.

"To be part of a team that is just coming together, it's kind of a neat opportunity to say you were the first," said Boughton. "As a freshman at other schools you don't get to pitch that often. I figured I'll probably get to play more."