Crutcher keeps crushing for Golden Valley

Shyan Crutcher has always wanted to become a slap hitter. In softball, slap hitters get the running headstart out of the batters box while making contact with the ball.

When she was playing junior varsity at Golden Valley, she would try to sneak a couple slap hits in before her coach noticed.

“I was always the biggest power hitter on my teams, so my coaches wouldn’t let me slap hit,” Crutcher said. “It always seemed like something different and something I wanted to try.”

One look at Crutcher’s statistics and it’s easy to understand why coaches wanted her to swing away.

As a junior, Crutcher last season was the Central California Conference Offensive Player of the Year, after she hit .563 with five home runs in conference play.

The Cougars senior is once again one of the most feared hitters in the CCC with her robust .603 average, eight home runs, 32 runs and 18 RBIs. There’s a reason she’s been walked 20 times.

How good is Crutcher? Just ask the pitchers.

“I would say she’s one of the top hitters I’ve faced,” said Merced ace Madilyn Nickles, who has thrown five no-hitters this season. “She’s definitely one of the tougher outs for me. She knows what pitches she likes to hit. I don’t want to let her capitalize on a mistake.”

Atwater’s Cheyenne Mahy agrees.

“If you leave her a pitch over the plate, she’s going to kill it,” Mahy said. “I approach her very differently just because she’s such a good hitter. You have to pitch her smart.”

Tired of seeing most teams pitch around Crutcher, Golden Valley coach Ross Cruickshanks moved Crutcher to the leadoff spot in the hopes of making teams pitch to her in the first inning.

“She’s the only one I give the green light to at any time,” said Cruickshanks, who calls Crutcher the best player he’s been around. “Most teams pitch around her, even with nobody on. That’s why we moved her to leadoff. Sometimes I have to ask her to swing at pitches that aren’t strikes just because we need a spark.”

The Cougars are having their best season during Crutcher’s senior year. After just eight wins combined the last two years, Golden Valley is 13-11 this season.

“I would have loved to go to the playoffs, but it is what it is,” Crutcher said. “I’m glad I got to play this season because we’ve been a lot better. We’ve won a lot more games. We upset Atwater this year, and that was cool because my travel coach (Robert Santistevan) is coaching at Atwater.

“We’ve always had fun playing, even if we didn’t win a lot of games.”

Cruickshanks is quick to point out that Crutcher’s effort is never dictated by the scoreboard.

“She runs out everything,” he said. “Even if she hits the ball back to the pitcher, she runs hard. That’s something other coaches have noticed about her. Even though we haven’t won much during her time here, she’s never talked bad about another player.”

Crutcher’s softball playing days may be coming to an end. Her plan is to attend Stanislaus State and focus on becoming a nurse.

Still, the Cougars slugger hasn’t ruled out playing softball in college.

“It would depend on the school and the program,” she said. “A lot of people are surprised when they find out I’m not planning on playing. They tell me I need to at least play my first two years and do the nursing thing after I’m done.”

Crutcher still has some goals she’d like to achieve before the season is over. She wants to reach 10 homers this season.

She’ll need teams to pitch to her first.

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Crutcher keeps crushing for Golden Valley."