There are pitchers and there are athletes who happen to be pitchers. There are also athletes who excel at being pitchers.
Hogan High School (Vallejo, CA) closed its doors at the conclusion of the 2010-2011 school year and has since become Hogan Middle School. Though most of my career as a sports reporter was spent in the Napa Valley, I enjoyed a two year stretch of covering the Vallejo and Benicia beats. In that time, I had the chance to see student-athletes that were special talents: DeMarcus Nelson, Bobby Gonzalez, Sheila Lerit, Lenci Landaker, Louie Puno, Dallas Bernstine and Victor Ferrante to name a few.
I would be incredibly and remarkably remiss not to mention 2001 Hogan High graduate Katie Layne. In all of my years covering high school softball, I would have to look long and hard to find a player than single-handedly elevated her team to greater heights such as Layne, who was inducted into the Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. Without Layne, the Spartans would have been hard-pressed to win one-third of their games. I don’t mean that as a slight against her teammates but I can remember numerous games that the Spartans would win 1-0, 2-1 or 3-0. Layne would strike out 12 batters on a bad day and as Hogan’s leadoff hitter, she would either kick-start a rally or drive in a run. Translation, Layne masked a lot of weaknesses.
Though Layne was known for her pitching prowess, it’s easy to forget just how valuable she was as a hitter. Layne was a four-time first-team all-Monticello Empire League selection and a two-time MEL MVP. Layne was a two-time all-state selection and among her career achievements was throwing a perfect game against Napa in which she struck out all 21 batters. Simply making contact against Layne was a victory. She not only threw hard but could change speeds.
The Spartans reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Playoffs twice in Layne's four seasons, all on varsity, the second time reaching the double-elimination portion of the postseason tournament.
In her illustrious career, Layne recorded 80 wins and 1,539 strikeouts, among the career leaders in California high school softball history.
Layne’s talents caught the attention of numerous colleges, including Notre Dame and Wisconsin. She eventually chose the latter, helping lead the Badgers to the NCAA Regionals in 2002 and 2003.
She finished her NCAA career in the top five in 10 pitching categories for the Badgers including fifth in career ERA (2.70) and career wins (37). Layne finished sixth in career shutouts (9). She also finished seventh in career complete games (40), career strikeouts (343), career walks per nine innings (2.42). She also finished eighth in career opponents batting average (.268).
What I remember most about Layne’s time at Hogan was that there many titanic pitching matchups between Layne and Fairfield High’s Alicia Hollowell. The latter went on to pitch at the University of Arizona. Since Hogan and Fairfield were members of the MEL, Layne and Hollowell would meet twice a year.
Besides Hollowell and Layne, Solano and Napa County also included two more with excellent pitching prowess -- Vanden’s Angelica Seldon and Vintage’s Ricci Robben. Seldon went on to UCLA while Robben, like Layne, went to Wisconsin.
Though it is easy to get caught up with athletic achievements, you also remember a person’s character. I know it sounds cliche but I remember covering a handful of Spartans games. She would always say hello to me and ask how I was doing. I find that quality noticeable because even the most grounded high school students can be self-centered.
Layne was the perfect mixture of confidence and humility. As amazing as her talent was, Layne was an even better person. As soon as you sang her praises, Layne would tell you how she could have been better.
Making the transition from high school to college is an enormous step, not only athletically but as it pertains to life. I remember Layne’s freshman year at Wisconsin, the Badgers were playing a tournament at Sacramento State. So I pitched (pun intended) the idea of doing a followup feature story to my sports editor, Brian Cornelius. He could not have been more on board with the idea.
Like many people making the transition, Layne dealt with the reality of going from high school, where she was head and shoulders above to peers to college, where everyone is your equal or superior.
Layne could not have handled the transition better.
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