Yelm High School softball posted scores that you’d typically see in football games in its two most recent South Puget Sound League (SPSL) victories, as the team dismantled Spanaway Lake 34-4 on Tuesday, April 1, and blew out Curtis 30-3 on Wednesday, April 2.
Freshman Paityn Powell continued her star-making performances last week for the Tornados as she hit four total home runs, including three against Spanaway Lake and one against Curtis. Against the Sentinels, Powell displayed her power by hitting home runs twice in the first inning and again in the fourth inning — a collective five RBIs in the process.
Against the Vikings, Powell collected five more RBIs after consecutive innings with two RBI doubles and a single that scored one of her teammates. In addition to her stellar offensive performance — where she batted .769 and had a slugging percentage of 1.923 — Yelm’s head coach Lindsay Walton said Powell played at second base, away from her normal position for the Tornados to fill in for a teammate who was out of town.
“Paityn had a killer week. If you look at the three games from this week, she had 10 hits, including three singles, three doubles, four home runs, 12 RBIs, 10 runs, one walk and just one strikeout. She had a pretty incredible showing. She has really started to produce how I thought she would,” Walton said. “She had some first-game nerves early in the season, but she’s really consistently started to come through. The ball just comes off her bat so hard, and she has immense power. She’s not a big kid, but she’s got a lot of power.”
Walton said Powell can slot in just about anywhere for the Tornados defensively, whether it’s in the outfield, in the corner infield positions or in the middle infield positions. For being just a freshman, the coach said Powell plays with a lot of confidence.
