Arizona softball commit Sydney Somerndike ready to ‘play against the best’ in Pac-12
VILLA PARK, Calif. (BVM) – Sydney Somerndike’s favorite aspect of softball is being a part of a team. In fact, there might not be anything more important to one of the best pitchers in the country than being a good teammate.
“When I think about my game, it’s all focused around my teammates,” Somerndike said. “I’ve learned a lot from high school, just how to relate with them and help lead them. I think that’s one of the most important things to me, seeing my teammates succeed and do well. Being a part of a team that’s having fun and doing well is one of the most important things to me.”
Somerndike got more experience of being a leader for her team than she probably would’ve liked this year after a midseason ankle injury forced her to miss a good chunk of her senior campaign with Villa Park.
The Spartans began the season 16-0 after appearing in the program’s first CIF championship since 1979 a year ago. But Somerndike went down after rolling her ankle due to bad field conditions late in a 1-0 win over Beaumont on March 31.
“I was out for like three weeks during the heart of the season so that was really hard; it was kind of what you look forward to the most because we have a really tough league,” Somerndike said. “Missing that was really hard but I just had to take on a different role for my team to try and help us do well.”
While the reigning Gatorade California Softball Player of the Year helped lead her team from the dugout during a critical stretch of the season, Villa Park struggled. The team lost four of its next six games following Somerndike’s injury.
With one of those losses during the midseason lull coming at the hands of league rival Esperanza, Somerndike knew she wanted to suit up for the next time her squad did battle with the Aztecs.
In her first extensive outing since injuring her ankle, Somerndike reminded everyone why she’s headed to pitch at the University of Arizona. She put together a one-hitter to go along with 12 strikeouts and two singles at the plate to lead the Spartans to a 2-0 win.
Despite a gem from Somerndike in her return on the mound, she wasn’t even 100% recovered from her ankle injury, and wouldn’t be for the remainder of the season.
“It definitely wasn’t fully healed but I think I got to a point where I said this is bearable, I want to be there for my team and try to do what I can for the rest of the season,” Somerndike said. “I decided that I wanted to play against Esperanza for the second round of our league games so I just put on an ankle brace. It felt pretty good, there weren’t any lasting problems, but it was a work in progress when I came back.”
Villa Park would win its remaining two regular season games and a first-round playoff matchup with Vista Murrieta before being stunned in the second round of the CIF-SS Division I playoffs by Orange Lutheran. Scoreless through eight innings, the Lancers (21-9) scored once in the bottom of the ninth and then once again in the bottom of the 10th to end the Spartans’ (24-5) season with a 2-1 result.
Despite the disappointing finish to a season that began with state title aspirations, Somerndike closed an incredible high school career with yet another spectacular campaign.
She went 14-1 on the mound with a 0.69 ERA and 179 strikeouts. The future Wildcat allowed just 10 earned runs on the season and opponents batted a miniscule .122 against her. Despite playing in only 10 games as a sophomore due to Covid and only 15 games as a senior due to injury, Somerndike totaled 660 career punchouts and went an eye-opening 38-4 on the mound over the last two seasons (three of those losses came by one run).
Somerndike won’t blame her injury for Villa Park’s early postseason exit, but it’s difficult not to imagine an alternate scenario where she was afforded a healthy senior season.
“Losing one player doesn’t change the whole team aspect, but, obviously, we all get used to playing with each other and it was kind of a momentum shifter when, not even just me, but another one of our starters got hurt,” Somerndike said. “It changed a lot of things, it shifted some momentum and placed some doubt in our minds.
“It’s hard when you go through something right in the middle of the season because we spent so long building trust and playing with each other so when all that goes away in a snap of a finger, everyone is kind of frantic and doesn’t know what to do. So it obviously changed some things and threw a funk our way in the middle of the season, but I think we did a really good job of bouncing back from that and not letting it impact our full season.”
👀@sydsomerndike with her 5th straight K for the North @VPSoftball @ocvarsity pic.twitter.com/eFDaPq11m2
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) May 26, 2022
For a program that underwent eight consecutive losing seasons before Terry Williams arrived as Villa Park’s head softball coach in 2015, there’s plenty to be proud of after finishing with a winning record for the seventh time in the last eight years.
“We didn’t get to accomplish some of the things we wanted or some of the things we believed we could’ve done, but when I look back on it, I’m just proud of my team and myself; we had a great run,” Somerndike said. “We took a program that wasn’t very well-known and we kind of just made a name for ourselves and I think a lot of the girls are proud of that.
“I don’t think it takes a CIF championship to leave a lasting mark.”
Somerndike has certainly left a lasting mark on Villa Park softball, so much so that no one in the program will ever wear No. 12 again. Williams announced at the team banquet last week that Somerndike’s jersey is being retired.
“I immediately put my face in my hands; I was a little shocked and didn’t know that was happening,” Somerndike said. “That was something really emotional for me because this program has meant so much to me over the past four years. Having an honor like that, you can’t really beat the feeling.
“You don’t ever think something like that is going to happen to you. It’s just a great honor and I was so thankful and it represents my best parts of high school.”
The plan is for Somerndike to make even more memories at the next level for a program that just advanced to its 25th Women’s College World Series.
Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe – who just became the only coach to lead their team to the WCWS in her first year as a head coach at any level – has been in contact with Somerndike since her sophomore year at Villa Park and knew early on about the special talent that she is.
“She burst onto the scene super late,” Lowe said of Somerndike during a press conference. “One of our last to sign or to verbal, spins the heck out of the ball. And I followed her from pretty early on and she had signs of greatness.”
For Somerndike, she was sold on the Wildcats’ coaching staff, tradition and, of course, her future teammates from the jump.
“What they have over there is something special,” Somerndike said of Arizona softball. “The tradition over there is hard to beat and they really have that family environment there. As soon as I stepped on campus and met the coaches and the players, it just feels like you know where you want to be and that’s what I felt when I stepped into Arizona.”
The Wildcats (38-20) just punched their ticket to a third consecutive WCWS after clinching the Starkville Super Regional on May 28. Somerndike plans to help extend that streak, and then some, when she arrives in Tucson.
“It’s the same goals as always,” Somerndike said of her future at Arizona. “They’re having this great run right now going to the WCWS so it’s about helping get the team back there and bring Arizona back to what everyone knows it as. I’m ready to go in there and play against the best; that’s what I’ve been working towards.”
Waited for this day⏱ So excited to officially be a Wildcat ❤️💙🐻⬇️ https://t.co/iTy0YRLNDx
— sydney somerndike (@sydsomerndike) November 10, 2021
