During this time last year, freshmen Kayla Smith and Rachael Johnson were in the middle of their high school softball season. Now they are regular contributors for Central’s softball team in the race for first in the GNAC.

Central (9-7 GNAC, 25-10 overall) currently sits in second place behind Saint Martin’s University (10-4, 27-10) in the GNAC.

Over the weekend, Central went down to California to play in the Tournament of Champions. The Wildcats went 4-2 over the week. Before the tournament, head coach Mike Larabee acknowledged he will need all of his pitchers for their six-game weekend, including the up-and-coming freshman, Smith.

Smith has a 2.58 ERA in 11 overall appearances and seven starts. She has gone five innings or more in five of her 11 appearances.

After being down six runs after two innings against Simon Fraser University, Smith made her first lengthy appearance of the season, allowing only one run on five hits in 5.2 innings. Central chipped away but ended up losing 7-6.

Larabee gave Smith her first start against Northwest Nazarene University six days later. Smith pitched a three-hit complete game shutout. The next day, she threw another complete game against the Crusaders, allowing one run and four hits.

Smith earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week for her performance.

“I felt like at the beginning of the year she wasn’t ready to go in and compete and get a lot of opportunities,” Larabee said. “Her workouts and her location kept getting better I knew she was ready–she’s a bulldog in the circle.”

Smith said since coming to Central she has made improvements in all parts of her game.

With Smith as a part of the starting pitching mix, the Wildcats have three potential options in the circle. Larabee said whoever has the hot hand will get the ball.

“We’ve worked really hard on pitching every day through fall [and] winter and just constantly make improvements for everybody,” Smith said.

Offensively, Johnson, Central’s other impact freshman, has made an impact at the plate after stepping in when senior outfielder Michaela Hazlett rolled her ankle. Since Hazlett has been healthy, she and Johnson have been sharing starting duties in right field.

Johnson is hitting .327, in 33 games with 19 starts. Meanwhile, Hazlett has been also batting .333 in 26 appearances and 16 starts.

Larabee said Johnson has made an impact with her speed on the base paths.

“I always say with a slapper, you put the ball on the ground they’re going to have to field the ground ball, transfer, make an accurate throw, and the first baseman has to catch it all under three seconds. She can probably get down the line in 2.8 seconds, if there’s any hesitation or bobble, she’s [on-base],” Larabee said.

Through her first eight appearances, Johnson was stuck with mainly pinch running duties. She now has 17 hits in 52 at-bats.

Johnson believes that being on this team has improved who she is as a softball player. In high school she thought having talent put a player on the team. The difference being at Central is having to constantly work harder while earning respect on a daily basis.

During winter quarter, Johnson put in extra work at 8 a.m. before her classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday with assistant coach Jim Peterson. With this, Johnson says it changed her slapping skills, made her bunt better and become more of a triple-threat player.

While pushing herself doing extra work, she was also pushed by her high school coach to be the best.

“He was a hardass,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Coach Larabee is really laid back, if you mess up he’ll talk to you about it. My high school coach got on me a little more, it definitely benefitted me. If I didn’t have that high school coach I wouldn’t have transitioned that well here.”