At this time a year ago, Fallon pitcher Jill Pinder had a state championship, a state player of the year award and the honor as the North's top 3A player.
But that wasn't enough for Pinder.
"She left last year like she wasn't satisfied. She wanted to do better," said Phil Pinder, Greenwave coach and Jill's father. "As a coach and parent, I asked how much better can you do."
Pinder quantified some of her expectations. She wanted to throw more shutouts and be more efficient in her strikeouts-to-innings ratio. But the most important goal was to repeat as 3A state champions, all the while handling mounting pressure to do just that.
"I felt like a lot of people remember how I pitched last year and how I did this and did that," the younger Pinder said. "I just focused on being better than I was my junior year."
Fallon repeated and so did Pinder, the RGJ's 2012 All-North 3A Softball Player of the Year.
The right-hander was 25-2 with a 1.13 ERA and .201 batting average against.
She struck out 161 batters in 161 innings and posted 12 shutouts, up from five as a junior.
"We never had to say anything about being complacent," coach Pinder said. "She is very self-driven. I think that's a pitcher's mentality: to be better, get better."
Pinder also added an offensive side to her game.
She hit .457 with 13 RBIs in 46 at-bats after getting just two at-bats as a junior. Pinder also came up with the walk-off hit in a 1-0 semifinals win against Lowry at the state tournament last month.
"Softball isn't an 'I' sport, but I did my job," said Pinder, who next year will pitch for Lewis & Clark College in the Northwest Conference, which produced the past two Division III national champions. "It was more fun this year than last year, when it was really serious. Everyone had the same goal, to repeat, and we all did our job.
"And we knew we were going to have to take off the jersey at the end of the season. We didn't want to have any regrets when we did that."
