Catching on fast

Nicole Latham was just 8 years old when she first felt the urge to step into the pitcher’s circle at a recreation league softball game. Her father, Len Latham, told Nicole that she was not allowed to try pitching until she mastered a fundamental skill first–catching the ball.

More than a decade later, Latham has mastered that fundamental skill and is now owns a series of dazzling pitches including a drop, curveball and her go-to pitch, the screwball. A freshman economics major, Latham is a starting pitcher for the Portland State softball team and part of a potent 1-2 punch behind staff ace Mandy Hill.

Hill is the dominating senior star who leads the team in batting average, RBIs, wins, ERA and strikeouts. Hill overpowers people. Latham does not. Instead, she relies on movement, deception and pinpoint location, but she has been far from an unused understudy.

“She has worked very, very hard,” head coach Amy Hayes said. “I don’t know how many pitches she’s put on that arm. Nic will throw every day. She wants that pitch to work. She wants to figure it out. She’s all about good, positive repetition.”

Latham, 18, grew up in San Bernardino, Calif., where softball players can compete year-round, but when it came time to look at colleges, she knew she wanted to get out of the Golden State. Many East Coast schools came knocking, but it was a recruiting trip to rainy Oregon and the Portland State campus that galvanized her.

She wanted to become a Viking.

“I didn’t want to go to the snow,” she said. “When I came up here, I really liked the campus and the urban feel. I really liked the girls, and the coaches were great as well.”

Hayes said she saw Latham pitch in a tournament in Huntington Beach, Calif., last fall.

“I saw Nic play at a tournament late last fall and just liked her. She doesn’t necessarily have overpowering speed. She seemed like a really nice kid,” Hayes said. “I’m excited to have her for the next three years.”

Latham, with an 8-6 record and a 4.25 ERA, has come into her own in her debut campaign for the Vikings. However, there was a point where it seemed her freshman season would be a forgettable one. Latham started the season at just 2-6, but she points to a relief win against Southern Utah on March 8 as a turning point.

Latham came into the game, part of a five-game series at the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas, in relief of senior Meghan Gendron and gave the Vikings 3.2 tough innings where she allowed just one run and struck out seven.

“It was after I had a tough weekend in Washington. I just felt I was throwing the ball better,” she said. “I started throwing the ball instead of thinking, and things started happening for me.”

Hayes said that Latham had to get over the “initial shock of going from high school ball to Division I ball.”

“She realized, ‘Hey, I can’t miss on these hitters,'” Hayes said. “I think it was just being able to spot her pitches a little bit better. I think her pitches have come along well. She’s going through her freshman year developing pitches and she’s done a great job. The strides she makes in developing those pitches help her confidence.”

Since that cathartic win in Las Vegas, Latham is on a six-game winning streak, including a dominant 3-1 win over Oregon State on March 25 at Erv Lind Stadium.

“Beating Oregon State and holding them to one run, that was the most exciting moment for me,” Latham said. “That was probably the biggest win I’ve had all year, so that was exciting.”

Latham is peaking at the right time. The Vikings are entering the heart of their regular-season schedule, and having two dominant pitchers could be the difference between a Pacific Coast Softball Conference championship and with it a berth in the NCAA Tournament, or a view from the outside looking in.

Latham labored through a rough stretch last weekend, giving up five runs in both her wins against San Diego. The cold and wet weather limited her effectiveness, something she is working to correct, though Latham was still able to notch a pair of victories.

“I really would have liked to do a lot better in the first weekend of conference [play],” she said. “We did get the win, and our offense stepped up and scored a bunch of runs. It’s just exciting to know you don’t have to put zeroes up on the board, even though you want to.”

The Vikings head to Sacramento State this weekend. Latham sees the four-game series as a big matchup.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a really big weekend. We’re going to go out there and do what we do, and we want to win all of them. If I’m going to get beat, I’m going to get beat with my best. That’s my mentality.”