COACH OF THE YEAR: Kentwood’s Aarstad made all the right moves

It’s hard to imagine that a high school baseball team would feel as though it had something to prove after posting a 17-4 record.

But that was exactly the position the Kentwood High baseball team found itself in at the beginning of this spring. When the Conquerors looked back, they didn’t see the wins from the previous season or their second-place finish in league, but instead the one glaring loss — a 13-7 defeat to Newport — in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs.

“We definitely could have gone further last year,” seventh-year coach Jon Aarstad said. “We kind of beat ourselves that game. When I did the math, we gave up 12 unearned runs and scored seven. If we play defense, we go a lot further.”

Aarstad and the Conquerors used that loss as motivation to this season.

It worked, too. In fact, that loss to Newport helped catapult the Conquerors from very good to elite as they captured the program’s first South Puget Sound League North Division title and Class 4A state championship since 2000, knocking off Richland 8-0 at Safeco Field late last month to cap off what was a nearly flawless campaign. And the Aarstad-led Conquerors did it despite graduating their ace (Alexander Lee) and losing No. 2 starting pitcher Kent Hagen to a broken leg. Today, Aarstad can add one more accomplishment to the list as he has been named the Kent Reporter’s Coach of the Year.

Not only did Aarstad guide the Conquerors to the state championship, but he also helped this year’s Kentwood High baseball team reach the school record books as it won a school-best 21 games.

“There’s no question that we knew we had the talent to do it at the start of the season, but you have to have the right coach to get there,” said pitcher Avery Kain, who threw a 2-hit shutout in the championship game. “He blended in well. We had a lot of personalities on the team, and he did a good job of bringing us all together. He knew when to be laid back, but also when to be fiery.”

Aarstad also knew when to alter his coaching style. While pitching was one of the calling cards of this year’s Kentwood team, so too was its high-powered offense, a group that averaged nine runs per game and outscored its opponents this season 216-89. That offense, however, was slowed in the Class 4A state semifinals against Federal Way. Instead of using their bats to overpower the scrappy Eagles, Aarstad’s Conquerors employed small-ball tactics to scratch out a 3-2 win as cleanup hitter Austin Voth bunted a runner over twice during the pivotal victory.

“He just really understands the game well,” said Voth, who was named the SPSL North’s MVP this spring.

Which is evident in Aarstad’s track record. In seven years at the helm of the program, Aarstad has posted a 115-53 overall record, a run that now includes six state tournament appearances. During that span, the Conquerors have finished second, third and now first at state.

As good as Kentwood’s offense was, however, its pitching may have been even better. Kentwood’s pitching staff allowed two or fewer runs in 11 of its 24 games.

“I think if you put us on paper compared to last year, 1 through 18, we were much deeper. We had a bench that was very good, and our pitching, we went 1 through 6, 1 through 7 deep,” said Aarstad, who pitched at both Big Bend Community College and at Central Washington University in the 1990s. “I think, in general, our depth was just better this year.”

Yet, when it comes to what he’ll remember most, Aarstad doesn’t point to the state championship or a specific moment in the season. Instead, the coach points to how the Conquerors responded to a three-game slide late during the regular season.

“What I will remember most about this team is how they learned to fail, and learned how to overcome that,” he said. “I think we bounced back really well. We lost 3 out of 4 and this team said, ‘OK, I don’t like that. I don’t like losing, I don’t want to lose and I want to get better.’ We really did get better. It was fun to see them learn that part of the game.”