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You don't have to look hard to find Division-I prospects in the Mid-Columbia. There's enough solid pitching, great hitting and good defense to boost college rosters around the Pacific Northwest.
But it's a little tougher to find a good slap hitter, a term for a batter -- usually a left-hander -- who takes a few shuffle steps toward a pitcher and then makes contact with the ball on the run.
Executed properly, the technique puts pressure on an infielder to field the ball quickly and make a hurried throw, which sometimes results in an error.
"There isn't any room for a bobble, much less a mistake, is order to get them out," said Kamiakin's Allegra Wilde, the Columbia Basin Big Nine's top defensive third baseman.
A slap hitter's most effective weapon is speed, but having a good bat certainly helps, too.
"You've got to be able to hit the ball," said Othello coach Rudy Ochoa. "If you slap all the time, the defense can make adjustments to you."
Wilde, the CBBN's top defensive third baseman, singled out Braves teammate Amanda Garner and Lauren Dickey of Southridge as two of the better practitioners in the league.
But several of the area's top coaches scratched their collective heads when asked to come up with the top slappers around the Columbia Basin.
"This season is full of younger players who are new to the varsity game," admitted Wilde.
In fact, it has been quite a while since a pure slap hitter graced the Mid-Columbia.
Richland coach Casey Emery remembers former Bombers third baseman Laura Segall, who graduated in 2004, rarely having to take a full swing to get on base.
"She'd never swing away. She'd either drag bunt or slap," Emery said. "When you have somebody who is that fast, if you put the ball in the right spot you can't defend it."
But to learn it correctly, players must be taught early, even before they reach high school.
"It really has to come from summer ball," Emery said. "In high school, you really don't see (a player) until they're a sophomore, and if they're not doing it by then, it's too late."
The art of slapping takes a more prominent role in the college game, where some teams may choose to take advantage of their speed.
"A lot of upper-level teams have at least three or four slappers in the lineup," said Kamiakin coach Tammy Hutchison. "For the last five years, Arizona's whole lineup has been all left-handed, and they're all slappers, except for their No. 3 and 4 hitters, who are power hitters."
Though slapping isn't as widespread in baseball, the technique is used by some quite effectively at the major league level.
"Even Ichiro dinks it in there half the time," Hutchison said.
