Reaching 400

Bill Barker is coming up on milestone win No. 400

Baseball made him sane, softball made him a winner.

Bill Barker's eyes are set on his 400th win and his era spans 18 years as the head coach for the Knights' softball team. His credentials include six state championships, a switch from slow pitch to fastpitch and a record of 397-94. The only thing missing is an undefeated season.

The start of a successful career came in 1986 with his first state championship and the last came in 1999. In 2001, Royal went from a slow pitch team to a fastpitch and has placed eighth in 2001, second in 2002 and third in 2003.

For 18 years he coached girl after girl with a yellow softball, but his love remained in the game of baseball. His sanity too.

"What saved me was in the summer, I coached baseball and that broke it up for me," Barker said.

He brought his boys to the softball field where they helped dad shag fly balls every day at practice. Both are still in the game, coaching at Kittitas and Cle Elum.

Barker was never alone in the process either. Jim Hill said he talked Barker into taking the head coaching job, then came on as his assistant and stayed around for the full 18 years.

"Basically, you enjoy what you are doing and we enjoy working together," Hill said. "We have always had a good group of girls here and the program is what it is because of the girls."

Senior outfielder Kaysee Brown said they run the program like a boot camp and senior infielder Natalin Jones said the intense workouts made her and the team better.

"I think the girls show up and want to win, but they instill in us that dedication to win," Janessa Herrud said.

Barker said the softball team is run like a tight ship, everyone knows the routine and each girl wants to win a state title and willing to do whatever it takes to get the trophy. For 18 years nothing has changed about Barker's intensity in practice.

Of course, Barker feels the credit goes the other way.

"I think a lot of dedication from the girls," Barker said about his milestone. "I think the kids understand what Jim and I are doing and we have great attitudes from our kids."

The key to success for Barker on his route toward 400 wins has been his competition. He found the best competition around the state, outside his division and that is who Royal faced before the required league schedule.

"Our big thing is playing good competition and you don't do that against weak teams," Barker said.

Royal faces Warden today in a battle for the league title in a doubleheader. The Cougars could push Barker to get that 400th win in the playoffs, but he has other ideas.

If the Knights split or sweep Warden, they will face Columbia-Burbank on Saturday for the milestone. Or, what Barker calls, "a monkey off my back."

"The games that we have lost, some of those were at state, some were to triple-A schools and they were all close ball games," Barker said. "It has been a fun bunch of kids over the years."