This idea sprung up out of the phrase, "He's one of the best (fill in the blank) I've seen since I've been here.
I started compiling a list of athletes I'd want to put out on the court/field if I had my pick of every player to have put on a Douglas uniform since I started working for The Record-Courier in 2003.
Just for the heck of it, I thought I'd put together a separate list of the players I absolutely would not want to see on the other side of the ball. This isn't necessarily saying that these are the best overall to play on the other side, it's more the players who just gave the Tigers the most headaches during their high school careers.
Keep in mind, all of these picks are completely my opinion. No coaches had any input, and some omissions may simply be the result of a poor memory. But without further ado, here is the 2007-08 version of the All-Since-I've-Been-Here softball teams:
Pitchers
Kellei Kizer (2004-05): Kizer had two deadly pitches " her riseball and her fastball " that she used to decimate Douglas opponents for her two years on the varsity squad. She carried the team from the circle during the 2005 season after fellow hurlers Brittany Puzey and Kayla Dunn went down with injuries.
Stephanie Harper (2006-present): Harper has been one of the hardest-working and most-used pitchers in the state over the past two seasons. She has a 53-19 record in her three seasons at Douglas and still has one more year to go. I don't have extensive records on Douglas High softball, but I'd be surprised if she hasn't broken the school record for career wins yet.
Mitzi Olsen (2005-06): Olsen primarily threw during the transition year between the Kizer- Puzey-Dunn era and Harper. She had a 10-8 record in 2006 and carried Douglas into the playoffs with a crucial win over Wooster to end the regular season.
Catcher
First Team
Valerie Smith (2004-05): Defensively, there was no better catcher in the state at the time, or perhaps since. Smith went on to start for two years at Columbia, where her catching skills complimented plenty of pop in her bat.
Second Team
Katrina Morgan (2007-present): It's hard to say that Morgan will surpass Smith, especially on the defensive side of the ball, but with two years left the potential is there for her to develop into one of the best all-around hitters the school has had since its state title runs in the early 90s. Her three home runs in the regional playoffs should give notice to the rest of the state to be on the lookout.
First Base
First Team
Kayla Dunn (2004-05): Talking about strong all-around hitters, Dunn had little trouble crushing the ball. She broke the NIAA State Record for home runs in a career (38) and career RBIs (212), despite missing the bulk of her senior season with a knee injury. She was an all-conference selection in the Western Athletic Conference this season, starting for Utah State.
Second Team
Morgan Blomstrom (2008-present): Blomstrom was a significant surprise in her varsity debut this year. The junior clubbed three home runs and drove in 21 runs to earn second-team all-league honors.
Second Base
First Team
Jessie Kizer (2004-05): Kizer was a shortstop during Douglas' Northern 4A Regional title run during 2004 but slid over to second base for most of her senior season. She was a solid defensive infielder and provided a lot of production from the lower half of the lineup.
Second Team
Missy Kaplan (2004): Kaplan was the actual second baseman during the regional title run and was one of the better defensive middle infielders in the league that year.
Third Base
First Team
Stevie Smith (2004): Smith simply did not make mistakes in the field and was a solid No. 5 hitter in the Tigers' lineup during the regional title run. She went on to star at Feather River for two seasons, earning all-conference honors.
Second Team
Marina Diaz (2007-present): Diaz has yet to reach her full potential on the diamond, but has improved every season she's been at the varsity level. Her quick swing has helped pick up a number of key hits during her career.
Shortstop
First Team
Emily Weaver (2007-present): Weaver is one of the most natural shortstops I've seen at any level over the past five years. She makes the routine plays look easy and the tricky plays look routine. The left-handed hitter has led off the Tiger lineup for the past two years and she still has two more seasons to grow. A two-time first-team all-leaguer already.
Second Team
Tisha Luken (2004-07): Luken was a utility player during the regional title run, a reserve infielder as a sophomore and turned into a team leader at short her final two seasons. She was in the middle of one of the wildest two-day stretches in the program's history during her senior year. After staying alive in the playoffs against Carson, Douglas came back to upset Reno that evening. The Tigers then upended favorite Reed to advance to the regional title game in 2007.
Right Field
First Team
Kristy Olsen (2004): Olsen heads what is the first first-team unit of all Division I starters since I started compiling these since-I've-been-here lists.
Olsen had blistering speed following leadoff hitter Kaycee Wilcks (see below) during the 2004 season and went on to start all four years at Iowa State.
She batted .355 with 31 RBIs and 16 stolen bases during her senior year with the Tigers.
Second Team
Mackenzie Cauley (2007-present): Cauley sports some impressive power at the plate and accompanies it with speed on the basepaths. She came into her own as a junior, driving in 32 runs from the No. 2 spot and blasting two home runs to go with seven triples. Expect her to top that as a senior.
Center Field
First Team
Kaycee Wilcks (2004): Wilcks had the kind of speed coaches drool over (she stole 28 bases in 30 attempts as a senior " she was called for leaving early on one of her unsuccessful attempts) and led the top of the order off with a .338 average.
She walked on at Nevada, where she was one of the Wolf Pack's top baserunners for a season.
Second Team
Lauren Hoppe (2005-08): Hoppe was a first-team all-league during all four of her seasons at Douglas. If not for the three Division standouts above her, she would have been an easy first-team since-I've-been-here pick with 18 career home runs.
Left Field
First Team
Brittany Puzey (2004-05): Puzey was the Sierra League Player of the Year in 2004, batting .438 with seven doubles, four triples and nine home runs. She also stole 14 bases that year and carried a 2.42 ERA in the circle with 147 strikeouts in 119 innings pitched. She broke her thumb just three games into her senior season.
She starts in left field for Nevada now, and has been a two-time Western Athletic Conference selection for the Wolf Pack.
Second Team
Mia Townsell (2008-present): Puzey is a tough act to follow up, but Townsell showed a lot of promise as a freshman. She continually improved in left field and was consistent at the plate in the No. 9 spot. Her speed alone will be tough for opponents to handle in the coming years.
Pitchers
Mallary Darby, Spanish Springs (2005-08): What can you really say about Darby? She's headed to Nevada next year, was next to unhittable as a senior and was the Cougars' top pitcher through two state title runs. Comparisons have been made to Brianne McGowan. I wouldn't necessarily agree, because McGowan was a once-in-a-lifetime player, but Darby would probably be No. 2 out of all the pitchers I've seen since I began covering sports in the area in 2001.
Katie Eshelman, McQueen (2004-06): Eshelman was a constant thorn in Douglas' side during the two big rivalry years ('04 and '05). She had a 1.45 ERA with 313 strikeouts in 205 innings pitched in leading the Lancers to the state title in 2006. She starts for Wagner now.
Catcher
Jaci Carlsen, Spanish Springs (2005-2008): Carlsen, Darby's battery mate through the past four years, was as good a power hitter as there was in the opposite dugout over the last four years.
First Baseman
Jessica Haight, McQueen (2004-05): Haight was another foundational player for the Lancers during the rivalry years. She was tough pitching, hitting and playing first base, probably in that order.
Second Baseman
Andrea Lazzari, Wooster (2004-05): Lazzari was a tough out when she was playing the middle infield at Wooster and she's an even tougher one now at Wagner. She was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year this year.
Shortstop
Britton Murdock, Reno (2006-07): Murdock, now starting at Nevada, is just one of many Huskies that have been a terror to the Tigers over the last five years.
Third Baseman
Sarah Hunt, McQueen (2004-05): As far as I know, she never played third against Douglas, but I'll ask for a little flexibility here as she was as fearsome as they come at the plate and among the region's best defensive players at any position while she was at McQueen. She's now contributing at Nevada.
Outfielders
Ashley Collier, Spanish Springs (2007-present): Another Spanish Springs standout during the two state title runs. Thankfully, Douglas didn't have to face her this year, either at the plate or from the circle, but she was big in the regional title game last season.
Hailey Corthell, Reno (2005-07): Corthell, now at Wagner, was a player much in the mold of Wilcks with speed and strong bat at the top of the lineup.
Ashleigh Rahming, Reno (2006-08): Rahming saw time in center field when she wasn't pitching. As a pitcher, she was the Sierra League Pitcher of the Year in 2008 and carried a pretty big bat, hitting the first home run of the season off of Darby in the semifinals of the playoffs.
Designated Hitter
Samantha Puzey, Reno (2006-present): Puzey could have plugged in left field or at first, but her bat was what set her apart. Brittany's little sister doesn't quite have the same speed due to a bum knee, but her approach at the plate is eerily similar.
Utility
Samantha Baker, Reno (2007-present): Baker, the 2008 Sierra League Player of the Year, was tough against most opponents but she was downright deadly against the Tigers. She had two home runs and 10 RBIs in a doubleheader this season, shutting out Douglas on four hits in game one.
We finally gave in last weekend and watched "Super Size Me," a 2004 documentary starring Morgan Spurlock who also wrote and directed the film.
The premise is simply that Spurlock attempts to eat McDonald's food for every meal for 30 days. As a result he gains lots of weight and nearly dies. It took him more than a year to lose all the weight.
I hear that his next project involves documenting what happens when he leaves a lit cigarette on his living room carpet.
I got this wild idea in my head a couple weeks ago that I was going to attempt to compete in the all-comers track meets at South Lake Tahoe this July and August.
The idea up there is that these weekly meets, held on Thursdays and conducted by area track official Anthony Davis, are open to anyone ages 2 to 99.
That gives me a little over seven weeks to get into some sort of competition shape.
Call it a shameless attempt to drum up interest in my column with a weekly runner's blog, or something just to curb my summer boredom. Either way, now that I've put it in print, I suppose I'm committed to run at least once.
I don't have any clue what event I'll try (I'm looking at the middle distances), but my final pick will be the one that most delicately balances the chance of me being lapped by trained runners multiple times and the likelihood that I will indeed pass out before the end of the race.
A little background here. I have been running nine miles a week for the past month and have been building up to that since February. No doubt, it's a mild schedule, but it's something to build on.
I don't have any aspirations of actually winning an event. Instead, I'm just hoping to not finish more than 30 seconds behind the winner in whatever event it is I end up trying. I suppose we'll see how realistic that is in about a month. My ultimate goal is to not hold up the entire meet.
Anyone with any tips, suggestions or stories of their own is more than welcome to contact me and we'll just go ahead and make this a weekly appointment.
