Whether your team has the Rocky Mountain Lobos listed early or late on the schedule is of no importance. Cory Berliner will be prepared.
Berliner, perhaps the top returning softball pitcher in the state, rarely stops throwing strikes. Only the winter season can keep the 5-foot-10 senior with a 60 mph fastball and whirling screwball off the mound.
Berliner pitched in about 30 games this summer for the Fort Collins Buckaroos, a team that won the Triple Crown World Series in July in Park City, Utah.
“I feel like I can throw forever. I would throw even more, like they do in California, if we had the right weather,” Berliner said.
Berliner is a solid anchor at the sport’s most important position, but the burden will be heavier this season after the Lobos graduated a senior-dominated lineup that did not lose in 2005 until the state semifinals.
“Cory is going to have her awesome games, but we have to help her out, too. She’s human. She’s had her off games before,” said Lobos coach Mike Crockett, a 1986 Rocky Mountain graduate.
Berliner’s numbers suggest few weaknesses.
As a junior she posted a 17-1 record with a 0.22 earned run average, striking out 183 batters and allowing only 17 walks in 126 innings. The year before she fanned 147 batters in nearly 125 innings, issuing only 11 walks.
Berliner earned Front Range player of the year honors, made The Denver Post All-Colorado team and was named Gatorade’s Colorado player of the year.
“A kid like (Berliner) is going to strike out two out of every three batters that she sees,” Mountain Vista coach Bret Grammerstorf said. “Sometimes that can be enough to get you through the playoffs.”
Berliner’s best pitch is the screwball, but she mixes a changeup with a fastball to keep hitters off balance and then adds a drop pitch to further keep them guessing. Her windup can be deceptive, and any batter watching Berliner’s arm swing already is one step behind.
“Her arm moves slow, but her wrist snaps so fast,” Poudre coach Christy Malara said. “She can surprise a batter.”
