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The Fife High School baseball and softball teams are both headed to the West Central District Playoffs after winning the Nisqually League Title. In the first round, the baseball team will face off against Kingston May 9. The softball team will begin May 17.

Playoffs on horizon

By Ben Miller

The spring sports season is coming to an end, and that means just one thing: time for playoffs. Fife High School has watched its teams experience big-time success this season on the diamond for both baseball and softball. Next for both squads is a trip to districts, and a chance to make a run in the state playoffs.

- Baseball

The first Trojan squad to get things started in the postseason is the baseball team. Led by coach Shane Nixon, the Trojans (17-2, 11-1 Nisqually League) wrapped up the school’s first league title since 1963 by beating Eatonville in back-to-back games April 29 and 30 to snag the Nisqually League crown.

Now they head to districts, determined to bring home another trophy.

“I don’t think the kids are really feeling pressure, I think they’re feeling a lot of confidence right now, and they know what is on the line,” Nixon said. “It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend.”

Following a first round bye, Fife will play Kingston, which defeated Steilacoom by a score of 10-0 May 6, at Legion Field in Bremerton. May 9 at 4 p.m. The Trojans will need to win two games before losing two in order to advance to the state tournament.

Nixon said his team’s pitching is what really sets the Trojans up to make a long run into the postseason. One through five, he said he would be confident in sending any pitcher in the rotation out to the mound in a loser-out game.

“Our top two pitchers, I can put either one of them out there in a game and have confidence that we’re going to win that game, which I don’t think you can say on every single team in the state,” Nixon said. “I think we’ve got the pitching to make a run.”

Combine that with a potent offense, and the Trojans might just have a perfect recipe for success. During the regular season, Fife outscored its opponents by an astounding 178-51 margin, a stat that propelled the team to the position it is in now.

“We score a lot of runs so hopefully we stay hot and we stay ready to go,” Nixon said.

If the Trojans can perform well in the district tournament and earn one of the two seeds afforded to the West Central District, they can make the state tournament for just the second time in school history. The only other time that Fife made it that far, it lost to Meadowdale in the first round of the 3A playoffs in 2003.

- Softball

The softball playoffs do not start until May 17, but that does not mean that the Trojans (15-1, 11-0 Nisqually League) are just going to take it easy until then. Having already clinched the Nisqually League title, Fife is already starting to amp up the competition.

“My philosophy is that the best practice is playing, and hopefully against good competition,” said coach Bill Burk. “That’s the only way you’re going to get good is playing against good teams – whether you drop a game here or there, it’s not that critical, but how you play is what’s critical.”

The Trojans already have games scheduled against Orting and Cedar Park at the end of the regular season – two teams that have just a combined six losses – and are trying to add another top team to their schedule before the postseason. When they do get to the West Central District tournament, the Trojans want to be as prepared as possible to make a run.

Entering as a No. 1 seed into the district playoffs, Fife will get a bye into the second round of the tournament where it will face either the No. 2 seed out of the Olympic league or the No. 3 seed out of the Nisqually League. A win there and it would set up a championship game for one of the district’s two bids. Waiting for them most likely could be last year’s 2A state champs, North Mason.

“We’re banking on it being us and them in the championship game,” Burk said. “We’re going to spend all of our time preparing for that style of ball, and they play a small ball kind of a concept where they bunt a lot and slap hit a lot and really try to put pressure on our defense.”

Luckily, Burk said, the Trojans have one thing going for them that will help them against an offense like that. “That’s one thing that’s really good about this team is they’re really solid defensively,” he said.

Last year, after finishing second in the Nisqually League, Fife lost to Klahoya in the first round of district play, 2-1. The Trojans are hoping to avoid that same mistake this season.

“It’s a totally different team now,” Burk said. “That’s one good thing about these [girls] here, when the pressure gets to them they seem to step up their game and don’t fold under pressure, which is what it takes to win there.”

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