The Latest With Tia

Tia continued her off season work with USA Explosion Yakima and Yakima Sports Performance. She continues to get quicker, and stronger, and is bringing big power to the box this spring. Her goal was to make varsity as a Freshman. She made it and more importantly is contributing starting at both 1st base and in the circle. She is finding some early success in the circle tossing a 1-hit shut out in her first pitching start against 4A Wenatchee. Backed by a great defense and contributing to a potent offense she is having a blast so far. Perhaps our favorite video so far is the “Charlie hustle” slide into third for a triple at Bellevue. Check the video page for more highlights.

Tia Ramynke (2026) finished the summer playing with the aiBandits 14u Orchard and made a transition to the USA Explosion Yakima 16u coached by Ranae Koppenhafer (new assistant coach for D1 – Utah Valley) and Jay Weatherley (new head coach for Yakima Valley College) for the coming year. Tia continues to work 5-6 days a week on her game while also participating in high school activities. Her training philosophy is still unchanged and she is seeing results in all areas of her game.

Hitting – Tia’s offensive goal is simple, see ball – hit ball. She continues to be on her quest for dingers and still able to put down a bunt to support her team. Tia continues to work on elements of her hitting 5-6 days per week and consistently has bat speed into the 60’s. She continue to works on her swing metrics and is ready for fall ball to see how she is able to compete with the 16’s. You can see Tia’s fall hitting highlights on the video page or on YouTube here. She is most proud of playing 10 games and having no strikeouts this fall. She ended fall with a .333 average.

Pitching – Tia’ has met her goal to hit the mid 50’s consistently by the end of summer. She continues to get comfortable with internal rotation. She has picked up her 5th pitch (curve) and is able to locate all 5 pitches (fast ball, change, drop, rise, and curve) in appropriate quadrants. She is now working with Coach Ranae on her pitching while also working independently to make sure she gets work in 5-6 days a week. The most important update is that she finished the summer with no pain, even after pitching 3 games a day. Pitchers, the right form is so, so, important! Her speed goal is to get to 60 MPH by next summer and is hitting this with light weight ball. We incorporate overweight/underweight work with the Bownet Softball Pitching Training Set. She continues to work and develop with her big goal to pitch beyond High School.

Defense – Tia plays the corner infield positions with first base being her normal non-pitching defensive position. But she found some comfort in third base this summer also. She is willing to play anywhere and is quick to tell you about diving for fly balls in the outfield during BP. She continues with Wasserman’s high-level throwing after rebuilding her throw in 2021. She attended a High-Level Throwing Camp in September with Sarah O’Brien. She wants to make sure that she is a pitcher that can also play defense, and stay in the lineup and support her team on the field. You can see Tia make quick next-play actions and also work late in her stretch in the defensive highlight videos.

Fitness– Tia has found a fitness home with Yakima Sports Performance. In addition to her softball specific work, she is workin with the trainers at YSP 3 times per week and is improving her overall athleticism and making continued growth in speed and strength.

Academics– Academics are most important and Tia ensures that her academic work here is taken care of. She wants as many doors open for her in the future. She is currently maintaining a 4.0 with including work in honors and college prep classes.

We are uploading videos in the video section so you can see some current highlights. Or visit Tia’s YouTube channel.