Last year, as a sophomore, Ferndale softball player Kaelin Blakley was among the best in Whatcom County. Now a junior, Blakley is making her case as the area’s top talent — especially offensively.
Blakley, a star catcher for the Golden Eagles, is putting up gaudy numbers at the plate. Her success is the result of emphasizing her swing in the offseason, she said, in addition to hitting the weight room to build her strength.
But her biggest adjustment has been entirely mental.
“I’m just going up to the plate and not thinking about it,” Blakley said. “I’m trying to simplify everything … I’m trying to be calm.”
Through eight games this season, Blakley is batting .840 (21 for 25) with a slugging percentage of 2.120 while also launching seven home runs and picking up 27 RBI.
She has driven in or scored 47 of Ferndale’s 92 total runs this season.
Blakley batted .451 (23 for 51) with a slugging percentage of .922 and had five home runs and 28 RBI in 20 games played as a sophomore. She has also already two runs scored away from her total last season, having already crossed home plate 20 times this year.
“Her ceiling, right now, with all her progress and her growth, she doesn’t have one,” Ferndale head coach Brittany Arredondo said. “The sky’s the limit.”
Blakley’s mental maturity since her freshman season has been obvious, Arredondo noted. Even as one of the best players on the team at that age, Blakley would get down on herself for not getting on base. Now, after many constructive conversations in practice and offseason work, she’s learned how to remain in the moment.
“Early on, [I would] have those conversations with her, like, ‘Regardless of whether you want to shoulder the responsibility or not, your teammates are looking at you. They are paying attention to your mannerisms, your body language, your attitude, things like that,’” Arrendondo added.
Ferndale is 4-4 overall (2-3 Northwest Conference) and snapped a four-game losing streak with a 28-3 rout of Bellingham on Tuesday, April 9. Even in the losses, Blakley remained the lead contributor — regardless of pitching talent on the other side. She is determined to turn the tide on the season, especially as the league schedule begins post spring break.
In back-to-back losses March 26–28 versus Lakewood and Lynden, Blakley had a combined four home runs (6 for 7 batting) in addition to seven RBI and six runs scored. She then exploded against Bellingham, finishing 4 for 5 at the plate with four runs scored, nine RBI, two triples and a home run.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed. Blakley has been hearing from college programs, most notably Western Washington University.
With her on-the-field dominance established, Blakley is now embracing her role as a leader on a young team that has just two seniors this season.
“I’ve known some of these younger girls for a long time, and I know they kind of look up to me. Knowing that, I really try and help out where I can,” Blakley said. “Going forward, working with these younger girls is going to help them experience things we upperclassmen have already faced.”
While Arredondo said Blakley is the most talented player to put on a Ferndale uniform in her seven seasons as the team’s coach, it’s the junior’s desire to learn that will benefit her through the rest of her high school career and beyond.
When she tests her skills at other positions in practice, including shortstop, Blakley won’t stop asking questions.
“That alone outside of like her work ethic and her talent is going to take her a long way,” Arredondo said. “She works hard all the time. There’s never less than 100 percent coming out of that kid, regardless of what you’re asking her to do.”
Connor J. Benintendi is CDN’s sports editor; reach him at connorbenintendi@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
