Curve ball

PALMER — Geneva Ratcliff was thrown a curve ball this spring.

Ready for her fourth season on the Palmer High School varsity softball squad, Ratciff was forced to change her spring plans after low player turnout and difficulty finding a coaching staff forced the PHS administration to cancel girls’ softball for the 2008 season.

But the loss of Palmer High’s softball team has not kept the senior standout off the diamond.

Ratcliff is now a member of the PHS baseball squad.

Ratcliff wasn’t surprised when Palmer finally had to pull the plug on the softball season. School administrators spent the weeks leading up to the season scrambling, trying to find enough players to field a team and a set of coaches to lead the squad.

Once the final decision was made, Ratcliff decided to give something else a try.

“It’s just a challenge,” Ratcliff said before a team practice on Friday. “Sounded like something to do.”

Baseball is not exactly a foreign concept for the multi-sport athlete. Her brothers played baseball, her father coached and she played on Palmer Little League baseball teams until she was 12 years old. Plus, she’s been one of the top prep softball players in the Valley during her time at Palmer High.

With all of that considered, Ratcliff said she really isn’t worried about the transition.

“It’ll be a little different, but it’s pretty much the same,” Ratcliff said before practice on Friday. “The ball’s a little smaller and the field’s bigger, but you still have to watch the ball and field it.”

Palmer head coach David Combs was eager to welcome the senior standout to his squad.

“I think it’s great. She’s probably got a better arm than most of the kids I have right now anyway,” Combs said with a laugh.

Combs said the Palmer players were also excited to have Ratcliff on the squad.

“They love it,” Combs said. “They know what kind of athlete she is.”

Combs doesn’t see the transition as a big hurdle either.

“It’s just a bigger field,” Combs said. “Why would I turn away anyone like that with that kind of diamond knowledge?”

The biggest difference for Ratcliff, Combs said, will come at the plate.

“Hitting the ball’s going to be different,” Combs said. “It might take her a a while.”

Rather than facing an under-handed delivery from about 40 feet, Ratcliff will be facing over-handed offerings from 60 feet.

“That’s going to be different. I haven’t hit a baseball since I was 12,” Ratcliff said. “But you still just have to watch the ball, I guess. It’s just coming in a little faster obviously.”

Ratcliff was Palmer’s ace on the mound and a standout in the infield during her three seasons on the softball squad. Ratcliff said he has been working out at third base during the spring, but Combs feels she might be best suited for the outfield.

“She’s just so fast and she’s got such a good arm,” Combs said. “It’s going to be hard for me not to put her in the outfield.”

Ratcliff — who helped lead the Palmer volleyball and girls basketball squads to the state tournament as a senior — is also on the PHS track and field squad this spring.

She split time between softball and track as a freshman, but focused on softball during the spring as a sophomore and junior.

Ratcliff said she is throwing both the shot put and the discus this spring, and will compete in the 400-meter relay and the triple jump.

“It keeps me busy,” Ratcliff said.

Ratcliff will be busy during her final weeks in Palmer. The PHS senior has enlisted in the United States Navy. She is slated to leave for basic training on June 24, and is preparing to join the Navy’s nuclear program.

“I’m pretty excited,” Ratcliff said.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.