Pitchers Spielman, King Key To Colonels’ Turnaround Year

Posted: May 18, 2015
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — When two James Wood pitchers total for more wins than the Colonels’ softball team had last year, it’s safe to say that Lauren King and Lani Spielman aren’t ordinary freshmen.

King’s and Spielman’s contributions might be surprising to those outside of the program, but the returning Colonel players knew they’d be set with both contributing in the pitcher’s circle this year.

And while softball is a team sport with nine or 10 players (and the coaching staff) contributing to James Wood’s success, it all starts in the pitcher’s circle.

King and Spielman have combined for all 15 of the Colonels’ victories (the team finished 5-16 last year), including the team’s most recent one Friday night in a 21-0 five-inning Northwestern District win over Handley.

King (two innings, three strikeouts) and Spielman (three innings, five strikeouts) combined to throw a perfect game no-hitter against the Judges.

Their emergence has also allowed some of James Wood’s upperclassmen, who needed to pitch last season, to play their primary positions which solidifies the team’s defense.

Colonels senior captain Taylor Rizzari said King and Spielman deserve a lot of credit for the team’s success.

“They’ve really transformed James Wood softball, they’ve completely turned it around,” said Rizzari, and outfielder. “Our pitching this year has stepped up tremendously from the years before because we have two ace pitchers this year.”

Some teams would love to have just one No. 1 starter, so having two freshmen right handers is quite a luxury for Colonels first-year coach Todd Baker.

“We’re pretty blessed for a high school team to have two pitchers like [Lani and Lauren],” said Baker, whose team is 15-5 overall (6-2 district). “That one-two punch has worked pretty well against some quality teams.”

Through 20 games, King owns a 9-2 record with 86 strikeouts in 78 innings with a 2.24 earned-run average. Spielman is 6-3 with 54 strikeouts in 53 innings with a 3.83 ERA.

One reason why King and Spielman have had so much success is that both started playing travel softball when they were 9- or 10-years-old. That experience has given Spielman, who plays for Shenandoah Valley Mavericks, and King, who plays for Loudoun Glory U-18, years of high-level competition that’s made the transition to varsity softball look easy.

“I’d say it’s kind of the same,” Spielman said when comparing the caliber of play from travel ball to her first varsity season. “It’s been a huge help. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have as much experience.”

King said she’s played travel ball at the 10U, 12U, 16U and now the 18U level.

“I’ve been playing [travel] since middle school,” King said. “It’s just so much more fast paced than a lot of softball I’ve played so it got me ready for this [varsity season]. It mentally prepares me for anything that can happen.”

Both King and Spielman are right-handers, but they complement each other well with their different pitching styles and an array of pitches. King throws four different pitches and relies on her velocity.

“I’ve got a fastball and I’m working on a changeup and it’s almost there,” King said. “I should have one by now, truthfully. I also have a dropball and screwball.”

Spielman relies a little more on movement — with a screwball, dropball, drop-curve, rise and changeup — but her fastball can still be overpowering.

“Lani has really good movement and her changeup is awesome,” Rizzari said. “Lauren has movement but she also has that extra oomph behind her ball so that helps her a lot. She gets a lot of people swinging because they’re not used to seeing that much speed, especially because she’s so young and they don’t expect her to throw that hard.”

Their poise in the circle has allowed Baker to start one and then bring in the other to close out a game (King has two saves, Spielman one). Both play first base and pitch so they also complement each other well when it comes to switching positions.

Although their numbers speak for themselves, Baker said both players haven’t been fazed in their first varsity seasons.

“We went down to Woodgrove and Lani pitched all seven innings down there and allowed like three or four hits,” Baker said. “We lost 3-1 but that was a remarkable feat for a [freshman] pitcher to do that.

“They’re both workhorses and they’ve thrown pitches in huge counts that you just don’t see freshmen pitchers make. They can make the pitch on the corner when you’ve got to have it. It’s pretty amazing and I’m proud of both of them.

“Even their leadership as freshmen and their confidence — they feel like there’s no chance they’re going to lose. They’ve both played on very good travel teams and they’ve both been coached well coming up.”

King and Spielman along with catcher Lindsey Anderson and infielder/outfielder Camryn Rizzari are part of a talented freshmen class that’s really added depth and provides a young nucleus to build around.

While the future looks bright for the Colonels, King and Spielman’s main goal will be helping the team in this week’s Conference 21 Tournament. James Wood (5-2 in conference), the No. 3 seed, will host sixth-seeded Dominion in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. at Ridge Field on Tuesday.

“I think it’s been a pretty awesome [season],” Spielman said. “We’ve got all kinds of talent and it’s been pretty awesome to be playing with players as talented as them in my first varsity season. We just want to be [at least] second in the conference.”

King knows the conference tournament will be challenging.

“I think everybody’s at about the same level as far as hitting and fielding-wise,” King said. “We’re facing some good teams this season with Sherando and Woodgrove.”

— Contact Robert Stocks at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1