By now the quick change from basketball to softball season is a part of Morgan Stradley’s annual routine.
The Battle Ground senior, who is committed to play softball at D-II Regis in Denver, is a four-year varsity letter earner in both sports, a combination that has become increasingly more uncommon as specialization continues to grow as the norm.
Her conditioning for basketball season has always given her a leg up into spring. During the basketball season, she sometimes attended hitting practices on Sundays.
“I like playing multiple sports because it broadens you and you can get burned out playing one sport. Playing multiple sports really helps to keep you grounded,” Stradley said.
Stradley was named first team all-league as the leading scorer on Battle Ground’s basketball team, which crosses off a goal she set at the start of the season. Her goal for the softball season? This year, she hopes to help lead the Tigers back to the state playoffs.
“It’s rare,” Battle Ground coach Arielle Wiser said of Stradley’s success in basketball and softball. “You don’t really see it very often. Maybe 4-5 years ago that was still common, but now coaches expect their kids to go all year around. But she makes it work.”
For Wiser, who starts her fifth year as Battle Ground’s head coach, Stradley has been a mainstay in the lineup the last three seasons.
That started her freshman year.
Stradley earned the respect of Wiser and her elder teammates not long after she stepped onto the field.
She entered into a position battle at the start of the season at shortstop with a junior who had started the year before, which Wiser said was a “battle every practice.” The upperclassman came into the season with a starting spot, and Stradley showed enough effort, heart and playmaking ability for Wiser to give her the nod.
She’s kept the spot ever since.
“It doesn’t happen that often,” Wiser said. “Even as a freshman she spoke up as a leader and helped other girls out. She’s just kind of done that since a pretty young age.”
It’s her competitiveness that separates her from others, Wiser said.
Stradley hopes to channel that same drive during the season.
Battle Ground returns four all-league selections from a team that reached the state quarterfinals last season.
The Tigers hope to challenge defending league champion Camas. The Papermakers won the 4A Greater St. Helens League by five games last season.
And they should be just as tough. Camas graduated two infielders, but returns All-Region player of the year Kennedy Ferguson, who is committed to pitch at University of New Mexico. Ferguson can hit, too. She hit a three-run home run against Eastlake in a Jamboree already.
“Between us, Union and Battle Ground, I think we’ll (make it back to state),” Camas coach Dale Lunde said.
