Washington high school softball athlete's diary: Success and struggle are part of whole process

MILL CREEK, Wash. - In the beginning, Rachel Sysum was on sweet-swinging autopilot.

She wasn't thinking about softball at Jackson High School as an incoming ninth grader - she was just performing. In 13 games of the pandemic-shortened 2021 season, the shortstop hit .349, blasted six home runs and drove in a whopping 24 runs.

Needless to say, she generated a ton of buzz as one of the bright underclassman standouts in Washington.

"I just wasn't thinking about anything," Sysum said. "It was the COVID year, and we weren't really playing for anything. I didn't know anybody on the team that well. Nothing really mattered."

What Sysum eventually discovered was that nothing was THAT easy.

After slumping badly much of last high school season, then in the summer and fall with the Puyallup-based Bandits club, Sysum experienced the low of the lows.

She took in advice from all sorts of people. Nothing worked. She became disheartened.

"I've learned over the years that when a player struggles, they have so many voices in their heads," Jackson softball coach Kyle Peacocke said. "Sometimes you just have to let them go through it to figure it out."

After one unexpected breakthrough moment - a tip from a pitching coach - Sysum not only found her swing again. she found her confidence. With it, she found herself.

"I feel like I am my own person now," Sysum said.

Last spring didn't start out any differently than the previous season. Sysum crushed two home runs in the team's first game against Roosevelt, then another solo shot in the next game against eventual Class 4A champion Redmond.

As expectations grew that Jackson would be the favorite in chasing a third consecutive WIAA title, suddenly Sysum got out of whack as the Timberwolves' leadoff hitter.

"It was more stressful, and I was definitely overthinking it," Sysum said.

"Everyone was expecting me to be really good, so I felt like I needed to prove that to everybody. It was hard. I felt like I was letting my team down, especially as the leadoff hitter."

Sysum began striking out more often. And when she did make contact, it was inopportune pop-ups.

"It takes a toll on you mentally when you have that going on," Peacocke said. "You could see it on her face when she was at the plate."

Jackson reached the WIAA semifinals, but lost to Skyview. She finished hitting .283 with six home runs and 22 RBI - but also with a bad taste in her mouth.

It got worse during the club travel season.

"I hit off the tee with Joe (Breer) so many times," Sysum said. "Every practice, he'd sit down with me and we'd analyze it. It helped, but at the same time, it also hurt because ... I became very mechanical in my swing rather than just swinging."

After tournaments, Sysum tried putting on a brave face at home, "but in my heart, I was disappointed."

And yet, all it took was a casual tip at a fall tournament in Arizona that changed her outlook.

During a pre-game hitting drill, club pitching coach Larry O'Toole mentioned to Sysum she needed to "get shorter to the ball."

"You don't ever want to teach getting hands to the ball ... but in my case, I think it overcorrected (my issues)," Sysum said.

In one at-bat during the game, she made that familiar hard contact - and has been blistering the ball ever since.

This spring, Sysum is back to being one of the state's premier power hitters. In 17 games for Jackson, she has 10 home runs (on a .413 batting clip with 23 RBI) - the latest coming Friday in a 1-0 non-league win over Bonney Lake, the top-ranked Class 3A team.

In fact, with a few games remaining in the regular season - then the playoffs - Sysum is just one home run short of tying Iyanla "Ice" Pennington (now at Coastal Carolina) for the program's single-season record of 11.

Pennington also holds the Jackson career home-run mark of 30; Sysum is at 22.

The home-run chase is nice, but Sysum sees softball with more of a bigger-picture perspective.

"I think (finding a way out of a slump) will help me more down the line," Sysum said. "Even next year, I now know I can get out of it somehow."

(Featured photos by Lauren Smith/The (Tacoma) News Tribune)