Week 6: Top high school softball performances in the South Sound

Emerald Ridge outfield jumps in the air at the start of the inning during the softball game at Puyallup High School, on Friday, April 18, 2025, in Puyallup, Wash.

(Brian Hayes/bhayes@thenewstribune.com)

Alec Elliott knew of the promising freshman pitcher on her way to Puyallup High, but this sort of instant dominance? Even the fifth-year head coach couldn’t see that much coming.

Elliott, Puyallup’s softball and girls basketball coach, first knew Jaycee Kemp as a hooper. Kemp’s mother, Jamie, coaches junior varsity basketball at Puyallup High, often reminding Elliott of what was to come.

“You should see her play softball,” she’d tell Elliott.

Jaycee dropped hints of her own. “Oh, I hit 72 (mph) on walkthroughs the other day,” the freshman would tell her head coach.

“I’m like, OK, sure you did,” Elliott thought.

That was before he saw Kemp throw for the first time.

“When you get to see it consistently, day in, day out, it was eye-opening,” Elliott said. “It was pretty exciting.”

One month after entering a high-school pitcher’s circle for the first time, Kemp is the South Sound’s strikeout leader (151 K). She has notched double-digit strikeout totals in 10 of her 13 starts, along with nine shutouts — all while facing some of the state’s top programs in the 4A SPSL.

“She wears that emotion and the team kind of gravitates towards that,” Elliott said. “She’s just unapologetically herself when she gets in the circle, and it’s really cool to watch... like this alter-ego.”

Kemp has dominated some of the area’s top lineups with an overpowering fastball and nasty curveball, but Elliott thinks the freshman is just scratching the surface of her potential. If Kemp can unlock more of her secondary arsenal over the coming years? It’s a scary thought. And an exciting one.

She was dialed again this week, twirling 17 combined scoreless innings in three appearances and three wins over Auburn Mountainview, Olympia, and Sumner. Kemp allowed five total hits, walking two and striking out 32. The gems just keep coming.

Kemp is 11-2 with a 0.52 ERA this spring, totaling 151 strikeouts to 25 walks. In 68 innings pitched, she’s allowed just two extra-base hits.

“She’s a predominantly-fastball, curveball (pitcher), and her changeup can be pretty good when it’s biting like it should be,” Elliott said. “But I think developing whether it’s a screwball, whether it’s a rise ball, whether it’s a drop ball… would be huge for her as the time goes.