Softball Dream Team: Marshall helped Sailors continue progression

They started fast by winning their first 11 games of the year, including the Costa Mesa tournament.

They ended strong in one of the toughest softball leagues around, battling first Edison then Fountain Valley to scoreless ties deep into the game before finally succumbing.

A main reason why the Newport Harbor High softball team was in those Sunset League games, in most of its games this year, was because of the player in the circle.

Hattie Marshall was not only her team's best pitcher, but pretty much the Sailors' only pitcher. She also was her team's best hitter.

Marshall, a junior, is the pick for 2012 Newport-Mesa Player of the Year in softball.

"Offensively, I think she led us in every category other than runs and stolen bases," Sailors Coach Russell Hartman said. "She did everything. She led in batting average (.422), RBIs (26), doubles (five), triples (four) and home runs (six). And that's not even counting what she did for us in the circle. She was pretty impressive this year."

The power numbers led Newport-Mesa players, and Marshall was second in batting average. The pitching numbers are also impressive, especially considering the teams Newport Harbor played in league. Of the Sailors' 183 innings played this year, Marshall pitched 155 of them. She finished with a 10-15 record, a 3.52 earned-run average and 72 strikeouts.

Newport Harbor (11-17, 0-10 in league) still has not won a league game since 2007. But Marshall gave her team a chance.

The Sailors suffered a 1-0 loss to Edison on April 26, only losing when the Chargers scored in the seventh inning. Yes, that's the same Edison team that went on to make the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals and finished the year ranked as California's No. 7 Division 1 team, as ranked by Cal-Hi Sports. League champion Los Alamitos finished the year ranked No. 14 in the state.

Two weeks later against Fountain Valley, the Sailors again nearly broke through. They lost to the Barons, 5-0, in 14 innings; the game was scoreless for the first 13 innings.

"That last time going through league, every game we felt like we were in it," Hartman said. "We were competitive. That was a huge improvement from where we were at before ... [Marshall] handled it very well. She went into every game knowing that it had to be her. No matter what happened, we were going to ride her, good or bad. I guess that put a lot of pressure on her, but she handled it great."