The first time Kaelee Washington ever stepped foot in the pitcher’s circle on the softball, she admits the nerves were almost overwhelming.
 
But she also knew she was exactly where she wanted to be.
 
“I remember being so nervous,” said Washington, who was 7 years old when she began pitching. “But I really loved it. I loved the competitiveness and I loved having the ball in my hand.”
 
That passion has only intensified throughout her career, driving her to become one of the top pitchers in the state for Santa Fe Trail. In completely rewriting Trail’s pitching record book, the University of Kansas signee has led the Chargers to back-to-back top-three finishes at the Class 3A state tournament the past two seasons, including a runner-up finish last year.
 
Bringing a career record of 35-9 into this season (five of those losses coming her freshman year), Washington is off to a 5-0 start this season for the 8-2 Chargers. She’s coming off the first perfect game of her career in her last outing, a 12-0 Pioneer League win over Osawatomie in which she struck out 14 of the 15 batters she faced.
 
That performance came on the heels of a milestone as Washington went over 600 career strikeouts last week in wins over Hayden and St. Marys. 
 
“It means a lot to me,” said Washington, who is up to 627 career strikeouts after Tuesday’s perfect game. “When I came into high school, I didn’t have any kind of goal for how many strikeouts I wanted to get. Hitting the 600 mark, I’ve worked hard for this and this is what happens when you work hard.”
 
That hard work began not long after she first took up pitching. She quickly became enthralled with the sport and started following college softball, hoping some day she could play at that level.
 
When she was 11, she switched her summer team and moved to the Select Fastpitch organization, which has a rich history in sending its players on to the collegiate level.
 
She also began working on honing her pitching skills with former University of Kansas head coach Tracy Bunge, who gives lessons in Lawrence. She’s spent the past seven years working weekly with Bunge, transforming from a thrower into an elite pitcher.
 
“I always had that dream to go play college softball,” Washington said. “I had quite a bit of velocity when I was younger. Going to Tracy, she really gave me the confidence. She told me, ‘You’re barely scraping the surface of your potential.’ I’ve had coaches over the year tell me that and that’s pushed me.”
 
Relying on mostly three pitches as a freshman – fastball, change-up and drop ball – Washington wasn’t the dominant presence she’s become. She finished the season with a respectable 113 strikeouts, but posted a 6-5 mark and 2.95 ERA.
 
But as her pitch arsenal has increased – she now features a rise ball, curveball, backdoor curveball and screwball – her success took off.
 
Washington went 15-2 as a sophomore with a 0.83 ERA and 202 strikeouts, leading the Chargers to a third-place finish at the state tournament. Last year as a junior, she nearly duplicated those numbers, going 14-2 with a 0.81 ERA and 254 strikeouts as Trail finished second to Rossville.
 
“What makes Kaelee so special, besides her obvious talent level, is the work she puts in,” Santa Fe Trail coach Brenda Dahl said. “You don’t just become a D-I athlete with God-given talent alone. It takes a great deal of hard work, time and commitment and Kaelee is definitely proof of that. She has worked so hard for this dream and I couldn’t be happier for her. Not only is she an incredible athlete, she is a great individual as well and seeing kids like that succeed is such a joy.”
 
Washington, a first-team All-Class 3A selection and Top 9 selection a year ago, said learning the nuances of pitching was the key to her metamorphosis into an elite pitcher.
 
“I feel that I’ve grown a lot in these four years of high school,” she said. “My freshman year, I threw just those three pitches and now I throw so many more. It’s fun to keep them guessing and I really like my spin pitches because as a batter, it’s hard to see what’s coming.
 
“From freshman year to senior year, my goals have changed. Coming in my freshman year, my goal was just to be a starting pitcher that people were afraid of. I had a pretty good year that year and that helped build my confidence. But now, my personal goals are team goals. I want to get back to state this year and win state, and I believe that we can.”
 
Trail’s two losses are to defending champion Rossville and in extra-innings to St. Marys, both coming in doubleheader splits. Trail is in the same regional as Rossville as well as Silver Lake, which is undefeated this season after sweeping Rossville on Monday.
 
The Chargers had to replace just three seniors off last year’s state runner-up team and had four freshmen on last year’s state roster. Washington is one of only a handful of seniors on this year’s team, and Dahl said her leadership has been instrumental to the Chargers’ success as much as her on-the-field performance.
 
“What she had meant to our team is unmeasurable,” Dahl said. “Her teammates know how special she is and her talent level raises everyone’s confidence and level of play. That’s how she leads, with her desire to be the best. We all know that our time is short with her leading us on the mound so we are just going to enjoy the ride and see where this team can take us. With Kaelee on the mound and the talent we have around her, I feel no goal is too high for us.”
 
Just as her teammates trust in her, so too does Washington trust them.
 
“I trust my defense so much,” she said. “They work extremely hard in practice. Obviously my goal is for me to be the best I can be in the game, but if they do get the bat on the ball, my defense is there to back me up.”
 
Washington has a 0.78 ERA with 58 strikeouts this season and has added two shutouts to her career total, which now stands at 13. She’s also been a force at the plate for the Chargers, hitting better than .500 from her sophomore year on, including a .545 clip this year with a home run and 14 RBI. For her career, she’s got 9 home runs and 77 RBI as well as 48 stolen bases.
 
Despite all her success, Washington says she’s still a work in progress.
 
“I still feel like I have tons of room to grow,” she said. “I feel like my spins are good now, but I think they can be great. I still have some velocity to gain and I’m really excited to see what will happen at KU.”
 
While Washington has led the way, Trail has gotten plenty of production from her supporting cast. Through eight games, junior Brooke Neidhardt and sophomore Addalyn Sleichter also are hitting .500. Neidhardt has 4 home runs and driven in a team-high 19 runs, while Sleichter has 11 RBI.
 

 
OTHER SOFTBALL STANDOUTS

• Wamego’s Peyton Hardenburger continued her dominant ways at Free State last Friday. In helping the Red Raiders to a sweep of a Class 6A foe, Hardenburger struck out 19 of the 27 batters she faced and allowed one earned run on four hits in a 2-1 win. Wamego won the second game 7-5, improving to 5-1.
• Rock Creek, which handed Wamego its lone loss, moved to 8-2 with a sweep of Concordia last Friday, winning 15-4, 15-0. Brooklyn Plummer belted two home runs in the first game, driving in 5, and Ali Jones and Reese Grady also homered with Grady’s the first of her career. Brynna Zoeller struck out seven and allowed just one hit. In the second game, Jones smacked a pair of home runs to give her three on the night and Sam Killingsworth also homered to back Acelyn Rottinghaus, who struck out 13 in throwing a no-hitter, one walk away from a perfect game.
• Senior Madie Helmstetter hit the first home run at Doniphan West’s newly renovated field in last Tuesday’s doubleheader with Riverside.
• Silver Lake is off to an 8-0 start after sweeping arch rival and defending Class 3A champion Rossville 12-1, 14-0 on Monday. The Eagles used a six-run fifth inning to break open the first game and then exploded for nine runs in the second inning of the second game. MaKenzie McDaniel swatted a pair of home runs and Taylor Zordel also homered in the second game. Kendra Cook and Avery Wende combined to allow just 7 hits and 1 run in the two games with Wende throwing a two-hit shutout.
• Osage City is 6-0 after sweeping Wellsville 13-2, 6-5. Peyton Pitts had 23 strikeouts in the doubleheader.
• Sabetha suffered its first loss of the season in a split with arch rival Nemaha Central, losing 5-3 before bouncing back to win the second game 14-4. The Bluejays have already set a team record for wins in a season, sitting 11-1 after sweeping Pleasant Ridge on Tuesday.