Tyson's jokes and hitting pump up Huskies

When the good times roll, as they are right now for the Washington softball team, it's easy to spot the girl with the 200-watt smile at the front of the Huskies' conga line.

That would be Baby D (a longtime nickname she has tattooed on her back), also known as Trey Nitro (because she wears No. 3), or the brightest Face in the Crowd from the pages of Sports Illustrated.

When sixth-seeded Washington (40-17) and 14th-seeded DePaul (46-11) square off Thursday in their opening-round game of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, the network might devote a little extra air time to UW's designated live wire, Dena Tyson.

"She's pretty much our team comedian," said second baseman Dominique Lastrapes, who shares an apartment with Tyson and has known her since they were 10-year-olds in Southern California. "You can always count on her for a couple of laughs. Or a lot of laughs."

Anyone sitting on the first-base side of Husky Softball Stadium on Friday during Washington's Super Regional opener against Alabama couldn't help but chuckle at some of the rhymes and rhythmic chants coming out of the Huskies' dugout — many of them a product of Tyson's imagination.

In addition to customized riffs on songs by the Ying Yang Twins or Kelis, Tyson and teammates sometimes launch a syncopated shout-out to the opposing dugout:

If you want, to check us out — Google us!

We got more hits, than your Web site;

We got more hits, than your Web site.

Yo, Huskies, what's your URL?

Gohuskies, dot-com — Gohuskies, dot-com!

It might sound like a new milestone in sports marketing, but it's simply another act of random silliness from the extroverted Tyson and a strategy for keeping everyone on the bench involved in the game.

"A lot of the chants start as jokes," Lastrapes said, "and Dena turns them into something."

"I try to keep things light in the dugout," Tyson said. "That's why I'm there, to keep the girls on an even keel and keep their heads in the game. That's just my personality. I'm always the girl who keeps the party going."

Her teammates dig Tyson's vibe.

"She has a very dominating personality, but in a good way," said Lastrapes. "If you have a bad day, she's going to make you laugh. Her personality is contagious."

Tyson has even rubbed off on other teams. While scouting Alabama on video, the Huskies heard Louisiana State players, who like UW wear purple and gold, copping one of Tyson's chants — "Go Team Purp." LSU players heard it while playing a nonconference series in Seattle in March.

"That started with us just freestyling in the dugout," Tyson said. "Then they tried to remix it, but ooh, no. That's us. That's our cheer."

Dugout chanting was not part of the keep-it-professional atmosphere preferred by founding coach Teresa Wilson, who recruited Tyson to Washington.

Yet as a fifth-year senior who has played under three coaching regimes and in two WCWS appearances, Tyson asked Tarr to let her rev up the UW bench by making some racket.

"This is a new era," Tyson said. "This is another way to help everyone stay in the game. She went along with it, and we love it.

"In the past, we had players like Jaime Clark and Kristen Rivera, some heavy hitters, and they were in charge of the team," she said. "I wasn't really a follower, but I was young, and I went with their flow. This season I feel like it's more like my team.

"Some people think I'm intimidating, loud or outspoken," said Tyson, who loves chatter but avoids talking smack. "Other people tell me they think my smile is magnetic. I'm just letting myself be me this year, and I'm having fun with it."

A career outfielder, Tyson willingly accepted Tarr's request for her to move to first base after the projected starter left the team. Naturally, Tyson found a fun factor in the switch.

"I think my voice just kind of dissipated out there in left field," she said. "In the infield, I get all kinds of action. People can hear me. I get more chances to do my thing, to keep my team going, to keep Dani [pitcher Danielle Lawrie] going. When the pressure's on, I say, 'Breathe, Danielle.' I like being close to the action."

Tyson won a new admirer last weekend when Washington eliminated Alabama in a Super Regional sweep. Shaun Alexander, Seahawks running back and Alabama grad, watched the game, and afterward visited with some Crimson Tide players. He pulled Tyson aside, too.

"He told me he liked the way I kept my team up," she said. "I thought, 'Well, that's gooood.' "

Beyond the laughs, Tyson has made an impression this season by putting up serious numbers, unexpectedly emerging as UW's big thumper in the cleanup spot.

A career .245 hitter, she topped the team this season in batting average (.406), home runs (17), runs batted in (46) and on-base percentage (.544). She was fourth in hitting this season in the Pac-10.

In late April, Tyson homered in six straight games, including four blasts in nine at-bats. She was named national and Pac-10 player of the week for two straight weeks.

What happened this spring?

"I don't know what to say," said Tyson, 22, who played with a shoulder injury [torn labrum] in 2004 and redshirted in 2005. "Maybe it has to do with this being my first season not being injured or whatnot.

"Or," she said, "maybe it's just the time when a player looks at herself and says, 'Dang, this is your last year. It's time go to the wall.' "

Now it's time to head back to the World Series one last time for her and Lastrapes, also a senior and Tyson's teammate on the Orange County Batbusters team that won an under-18 national title. Washington went 1-2 in the 2003 Series, 0-2 in 2004.

Tyson loves to win, but does not obsess over it.

"I've always been mellow player, a good person for other players to be around," she said. "I'll always give 100 percent, but I don't stress too much. Whatever the outcome is, that's the outcome."

Tyson, of course, will be giving her all, even sporting a new, high-def hairdo for the World Series.

"I'm going to surprise some people with my hair," she said with a laugh. "I hear people say we're a fun team to watch. I think we are, and I like to think I'm one of the reasons. So that's what I want to do this week, have some fun — and get some W's."