Before the high school softball season began, Jordan Birch, the daughter of Monroe head coach Mike Birch and the personal pitching coach for freshman McKenzie Schulz, let her dad in on a little secret.
“The first thing she said to me was, ‘Mac’s legit,’” Mike Birch said. “She said, ‘You’re going to enjoy calling pitches for Mac.’ And I do.”
And with good reason.
Schulz has started six of Monroe’s eight games and is 6-0. At 8-0, the Bearcats are the only undefeated team in Wesco 4A. At 3-0 in conference play, they’re tied with Jackson for first place.
With Schulz making her debut on varsity this season, and a promising group of hitters returning from last year’s team that was just a game away from reaching the Class 4A state tournament, Mike Birch expected success — but even he admits he didn’t expect Monroe to be undefeated midway through the season.
“I knew we had something pretty special this year and it could be even more (special) somewhere down the road, so I knew we would have a pretty good record at this point of the season,” Birch said. “Being undefeated, I didn’t expect that, because I knew we were playing some really good teams.”
Credit for the Bearcats’ success can certainly be spread throughout the team, but Schulz has played one of the bigger roles. With a fastball in the mid-60s and pinpoint control, opponents have had trouble hitting her all season.
“(She’s) a power pitcher with a solid rise-ball and really good location,” Snohomish head coach Lou Kennedy said. “If you start to take away the outside on her, she’s more than willing to come inside and bust you in. It’s pretty impressive stuff.”
Kennedy’s Panthers face the Bearcats for the first time this season on Wednesday, but he’s had the chance to see her pitch earlier this season — in a win over Lake Stevens — and a few times during the summer.
Lake Stevens head coach Sarah Hirsch got a heavy dose of Schulz in the meeting between the two teams on March 31. Schulz pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and striking out five in a 7-1 victory. Through five innings, Schulz had allowed just one hit and three base runners.
On top of her speed and accuracy, Hirsch said Schulz has another weapon.
“She’s left-handed,” Hirsch said. “It’s just a different look. … She throws the ball hard and she’s left-handed, so she’s got double the advantage on us. She’s going to be tough for the next four years, that’s for sure.”
Hirsch is better qualified than most to speak on the advantages of having a left-handed pitcher — freshman lefty Sara Johnson has helped the Vikings to a 3-1 conference record, just behind the Bearcats and Timberwolves in the standings.
Schulz and Johnson pitched against each other in that March 31 meeting, likely the first of many matchups between the two in their prep careers. Schulz was able to help prepare her teammates for what they faced the first time around.
“I kind of helped my team out a little bit because she’s a lefty and I kind of knew how lefties work and I was able to give them some advice,” Schulz said. “I’ve actually played with Sara a little bit (in select softball) and she’s a good pitcher and she’s got a lot of good curveballs and she’s just good with her movement.
“I thought we attacked it well.”
Mike Birch agreed with Hirsch that being left-handed gives Schulz an edge.
“You just don’t see many of them,” he said. “It’s just a whole different visual for the batter to see that coming from the other side. It’s taking me a while to get used to calling pitches because everything is reversed. On a right-handed batter she’s got a curveball that’s just devastating. It just breaks in on them on the right side.”
Lake Stevens’ limited offensive success against Schulz came in the later innings, something Birch said has been common throughout the season.
“That third time through (the batting order) the hitters are starting to make some adjustments,” Birch said. “The games where she’s thrown a complete game, the hits that they’ve gotten off her have been that third time through the order.”
But a few hits haven’t fazed the freshman. Every time she’s faced adversity so far this season, she’s responded.
“It kind of blows people away,” senior second baseman Bailee Senner said. “We’ve got a freshman coming in and pitching. We’re three or four years apart, the seniors from the freshman, and she’s blowing all the seniors away. It’s incredible.”
Senior outfielder Peyton Larson said Schulz has more than earned the respect of her teammates.
“From what I heard of her, I was like, ‘All right, we’ve got a big shot coming in,’” Larson said. “She’s really proven herself. I really didn’t know what to expect, but right now, I’m expecting huge, big things for us. She’s really holding the team together and I think she’s bringing out the best in us.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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