Olympia baseball primed to contend for a title in loaded 4A SPSL

A consistent byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic has been low roster numbers in many sports on many campuses as high school sports returned.

Whether lingering caution about the virus or lack of communication during the months classes were conducted online are the cause, some teams are half their pre-pandemic size.

That hasn’t been the case for Olympia High School baseball.

Coach Derek Weldon and his staff typically need to cut hopeful players, with 45 the target number across the combined squad of varsity, JV and C team.

This season, the Bears’ tryouts overflowed with so much talent, they kept 53.

“It’s a good problem to have that many players who are good enough,” Weldon said. “It creates competition.”

With spring sports the only programs of the WIAA’s three seasons to be completely canceled by COVID-19 concerns in 2020, many teams have been forced to all but start from scratch in 2021.

Again, the Bears are an exception.

After losing 5-3 to Moses Lake in the Class 4A state championship game in 2019 at Gesa Stadium in Pasco, the Bears’ underclassmen drove home eager to try again in 2020.

The juniors had that dream dashed by the season’s cancellation.

That season’s sophomores are seniors now and won’t have a state tournament to play in either, but there are enough of them to provide a solid base as the Bears pursue a 4A South Puget Sound League title.

Georgetown-bound shortstop Aiden Herrick, first baseman Aaron Rasmussen, pitcher-outfielder Jackson Twitty and outfielder Sam Grant all saw significant action in the 2019 state tournament.

Twitty recalls that team’s key ingredient.

“A sense of unity,” Twitty said. “It’s been instilled in our program since day one. None of those guys cared about stats or how they did by themselves. Everyone was playing with one goal in mind.”

With high schools limited in how and when they could practice and many outside travel baseball programs also curtailed, Twitty didn’t play a single baseball game between the title game with Moses Lake and this season’s opening win over Emerald Ridge 22 months later.

Weldon could only work sporadically with small groups and hope his players worked out individually.

“If you told me in a previous season we’d have five days to prepare for our first game, it would’ve been scary,” he said. “But it is what it is and we’re pretty confident.”

Twitty had an edge as his older brother Clyde was part of the Bears’ 2019 title team and his younger brother Sam is currently on Olympia’s JV, creating a convenient workout group. He says his teammates took self-improvement seriously as well.

“We’re doing so well at the beginning of the season because we continued to work hard through the virus whether it was in groups of five or individually,” said Twitty, who will skip baseball at Montana State in favor of his planned Music Production major.

“We knew how valuable our time was and we were super eager to get out and play.”

The Bears (4-0) have already tallied convincing wins against Emerald Ridge, Bethel, Graham-Kapowsin and Peninsula, outscoring their opponents 35-6. A showdown with another 4A SPSL favorite, Puyallup, is scheduled for Wednesday evening.

In addition to the veterans of 2019’s team, several newcomers have impressed in the early going.

Junior pitcher and outfielder Rylan Haider is committed to Washington State and can throw a 90 mile per hour fastball. Brody Phinney and Hunter Stewart are other juniors who will contribute.

Texas Tech commit Taber Fast, another junior pitcher, will miss the 2021 season with an injury.

Sophomore infielder Gabe Downing belted a home run and drove in four runs in his first four plate appearances since making a quick shift from football quarterback.

Olympia’s fall sports teams made a temporary detour in the 3A South Sound Conference because of concerns about playing in a different geographical region of the state’s COVID-19 reopening plans. There were pluses, such as the one-time resumption of the Spaghetti Bowl football rivalry with Capital, and athletes getting to compete against kids they’ve known since childhood.

But the baseball Bears, who will finish the season with nonleague home games against Tumwater and Timberline, are glad to get back to the 4A SPSL, considered one of the top leagues in Washington. Without a state title to contend for, Olympia is focused on a possible 4A SPSL crown as the next best thing.

“Teams in the SPSL don’t really rebuild, they just keep rolling,” Weldon said. “Every time you step on the field you’ve go to be ready to compete. It’s a great league.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.