Thanks, Naches Valley girls, we needed that.

That’s we as in the Yakima Valley, as in the four local teams in the Class 1A state tournament Wednesday in the SunDome.

On an opening day of no major upsets, the only upsetting thing to local fans was that their teams had gone 0-for-3 until the Rangers convincingly defeated White Salmon, 69-41.

The temptation would be to term NV’s victory easy, except those of us who have covered these events for more years than we’d care to admit realize that nothing comes truly easy for high school basketball teams in March.

Or, in this case, state tournaments that start in February.

Ask Corey Baerlocher, who has coached Colfax to a girls state three-peat, and whose Bulldogs will oppose Naches Valley in a 7:30 p.m. quarterfinal today.

“We go hard all year,” he said, minutes after his team had dispatched Seattle Christian 55-23. “We had a hard, two-hour practice on Monday. We went hard for an hour yesterday.

“Some people say you should taper off at this time of year, that if you haven’t learned it by now you won’t learn it at all. But we don’t take a day off.”

So at the risk of oversimplifying Colfax’s secret for postseason success, and perhaps disappointing those who think Baerlocher has concocted some sort of exotic scheme for getting his teams ready for state, it comes down to hard work.

“Every year,” he said, “coaches ask me about that. They ask what we do differently late in the season than we do early, and the truth is we really don’t do anything different.”

Except win more.

Please, La Salle fans, don’t misunderstand. The Lightning’s 38-34 victory over Colfax earlier this season was one to celebrate, and might well be indicative of a team that’s good enough to win a second successive Class B (2B this year) title in Spokane.

But the Bulldogs who played on that occasion are not the Bulldogs who won Wednesday at state.
Nor were they the team that won it all last year, Baerlocher said.

“We’re still waiting for the Colfax team that won last year to show up,” he said. “We’re still waiting for the Colfax team that played last summer to show up.”

Yet there are indications, he said, that the team he’s waiting for is in the neighborhood.

“We only allowed seven points in the second half,” he said of Wednesday’s game. “Our last seven games we’ve played better defensively.”

Baerlocher pointed to a late regular-season game against Chewelah, won 50-40 by Colfax. Thumbing back in his scorebook, he found the desired pages and said, “We beat them 50-20 at district. They only made five field goals.”

So as with most truly good teams, Colfax’s success starts with defense.

It’s also clear that the Bulldogs are enjoying an extraordinary run of athletes, and that Baerlocher and Sue Doering have proven a fitting coaching tandem.

Doering’s volleyball teams, like Baerlocher’s basketball teams, have won three straight state titles.

“Lauren Mellor,” Baerlocher said of his 6-foot senior, “has actually won seven state championships. She won the 110 hurdles last spring.”

She could have nine by the time she graduates.
But Naches Valley, of course, will have something to say about that, and Baerlocher sounded wary.

“They’re very athletic and they’re very aggressive,” he said, having watched the Rangers against White Salmon. “There’s no question that we’ll have to play better tomorrow night than we did today. If we don’t, it will be a very hard game for us.”

And why not? The Rangers, having done the Valley proud on Wednesday, are clearly an exceptional team.