Wilkes Just Goes With Flow

If someone watched only the face of Cypress’ Jamie Wilkes when she pitches, they would have no idea how the game was going.

Wilkes said she really enjoys pitching and being part of the team that starts play Friday in the state softball tournament at Golden West College.

But she isn’t the kind of person who’s going to get too pumped up about it or much else. In a game, she has the same expression from start to finish.

“I’m not really an excitable person,” she said. “I’m really mellow. I guess I just go with the flow.”

Wilkes said she gets her approach from her father, Jim. But even her parents are excited about Wilkes’ season, in which she has accomplished plenty.

She is 35-3 with an 0.91 earned-run average. Her victory total is a Cypress single-season record and she also set the career mark at 61.

She was an all-state and All-Southern California selection. But don’t look for Wilkes to get a swelled ego.

“I’m not into records at all,” she said. “They just don’t excite me. I don’t read the paper, that’s something for my parents.”

Wilkes presents a bit of a problem for Cypress Coach Brad Pickler, who takes a much more enthusiastic approach to the game.

He is always searching for a way to impress upon Wilkes the importance of things like state tournament games.

“In a way its good because she doesn’t get riled,” Pickler said. “She doesn’t beg for calls and she keeps the same demeanor whether I’m yelling at her or not.

“But I think she’s got a fire burning inside of her because she wants to do well all the time.”

Wilkes, 19, takes a direct approach to pitching. She said she concentrates only on hitting her spots and doesn’t worry about the opponent. She considers the base runners something for the infielders to worry about.

Wilkes’ ability to keep the ball low and where she wants it is best proved by the fact that she has walked only 13, four of which were intentional, in 232 innings. Wilkes throws mostly a drop and a curve and benefited from the mound being moved back from 40 to the 43 feet this year.

“It gives me more movement, and movement is everything for me,” she said.

Tournament Notes

The last time the state tournament was played at Golden West, which was 1991, Cypress won it. The Chargers (62-4) open play against West Valley (47-10) at noon Friday. In other first-round games: Sacramento (59-6) plays Hancock (24-10) at noon, and at 2 p.m. Palomar (42-13) plays Consumnes River (49-10) and Long Beach (40-5) plays Chabot (43-10).

Michelle Bailon is hitting .459 with 15 doubles and 56 RBIs for Cypress. Teammate Autumn Gwinner is hitting .409 with eight doubles, eight triples, six home runs and a team-high 59 RBIs. Aimee Weathers is at .395 with 45 RBIs also for Cypress.

The first-round winners play again Friday at 5 and 7 p.m. The winners of those two games meet at 7 p.m. Saturday. The title game is Sunday at noon.