The reader need not worry about an impending storm advisory invading your sports section. Aside from a phonetic similarity to meteorological forecasts featured on your local news outlets, the following article seeks rather to highlight several of the accomplishments of 2005 Polson High School graduate Strohm Fouty and speculate as to whether she will set yet another base stealing record her senior and final year of college. Strohm is currently enrolled at Southern Oregon University (SOU) in Ashland, Ore. and is the daughter of Walter and Joan Fouty, who operate the Eagle Nest RV Resort off U.S. Highway 35. Although area softball fans may recall who Strohm is, she may not be so familiar to other readers. Thus, it would only seem appropriate to provide a little background so that a greater appreciation can be gained about some of the sporty accomplishments of this base-pinching representative of our local community blazing the base paths among the collegiate ranks.

Like many aspiring athletes, Strohm’s athletic career began long before she reached high school. Skills were sharpened and honed over successive seasons as well as during the summer at one tournament after another. But is was when she became a member of the Lady Pirate softball squad, coached by Larry Smith, that Strohm started to achieve some notoriety. Injected into the lineup early in the season of her freshman year, she served notice to the Western A conference one Saturday afternoon on April 6, 2002 by stealing five bases and scoring twice in a 3-1 victory against visiting Libby. In the second inning of that game, she singled, stole second, and eventually stole home. Later in the fifth she was walked (big mistake!), stole second, stole third, and scored on a fly ball. Similar outings of slightly less magnitude would follow. By the end of her freshman season, she had stolen 39 bases and contributed to Polson’s second successive Class A state championship. Her sophomore season she would steal 37 bases, her junior year netted 35 more as well as another state championship in 2004 and by the end of her senior year she would tally another 37. Pilfering numbers at that rate add up to a grand total of 148 stolen bases during her high school softball career and place her at the top of the pinnacle of Pirate softball achievements in that category. Those numbers would place her second in the state according to the Montana High School Association (MHSA) record book, although it is hard to know for certain since the records listed are not comprehensive of statewide accomplishments.

The following two years of her college career would be spent in Coeur d’Alene as a Northern Idaho College (NIC) Cardinal, along with fellow former Lady Pirate Keely Torgison. During her freshman year in 2006, Fouty would steal at least 17 bases in 19 attempts during the regular season competing in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), batted close to .369 and would be integral to NIC‘s first Region 18 softball championship. That accomplishment earning NIC its first-ever berth to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national tournament held in Florida, where the NIC Cardinal would lose both games by the narrow margin of 1-0, the second being a 14-inning thriller. Had she been accorded greater playing time that season, it is not too far a stretch to imagine that the base swiping numbers Strohm might have posted would have been substantially higher.

Strohm became a regular starter for the NIC Cardinals her sophomore year of 2007. One season highlight involved stealing five bases against Eastern Oregon on February 17. The successes of the season spilled over into the post-season, where NIC once again captured the Region 18 championship and secured a return trip to the NJCAA nationals. Strohm’s performance earned her a place listed among the 2007 SWAC all-region first-team. At the nationals, eighth-seeded NIC lost their first round match to McLennan CC (Texas) 8-9, dropping them into the consolation bracket. With their backs to the wall, NIC would work their way past one team, then another, until they had qualified for the national championship match. In the first championship game, NIC edged top-seeded Chipola College (Fla.) 5-4 when Polson’s Keely Torgison stroked a single for an RBI in the eighth inning. Unfortunately, the Cardinals eventually lost the second championship game by the score of 6-3, but still meant that unheralded NIC of the Pacific Northwest had finishing second in the nation. The outstanding performance at the tournament by two of Polson’s finest softball products of recent vintage earned both Strohm Fouty as well as Keely Torgison a place listed among the 2007 NJCAA all-tournament team. Fouty managed to steal seven bases during the course of the nationals, adding to her seasonal accomplishments for a total of 63 stolen bases that Spring, ranking her fourth in the nation among junior colleges.

For her junior year, Strohm would transfer to Grand Canyon University (GCU) in Phoenix (Ariz.) of the Pacific West Conference, in part lured by the prospect of working with then assistant coach Becky Owen, who would eventually depart when her part-time position with the Arizona Diamondbacks was upgraded to full-time status. One would be hard pressed not to recognize that Strohm’s skills on the base path were underutilized given the drop in numbers from the previous season. Still, she managed to set a GCU single season school record for the Antelopes by successfully stealing 24 bases out of 25 attempts.

With the onset of her senior year on the horizon, Strohm has relocated to Ashland, Oregon, where she has become a SOU Raider outfielder of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC). Although quite early in the season, Fouty is currently batting .524 and has already stolen seven bases in as many attempts. Based on her performance the previous week at the SOU Raider Invitational held at nearby Medford, she was voted athlete of the week at SOU and was selected CCC player of the week for the first week in March. Although SOU posted a less than impressive 1-4 record in that tournament, Fouty hit .667, had 10 hits in 15 at-bats, scored four runs and stole three bases. If she hasn’t raised eyebrows yet, it won’t be long before Strohm makes an impact not only upon the Raider softball program, but also upon the conference statistics as well.

One must qualify that these cumulative base stealing numbers do not incorporate summer ASA stats, nor Fall collegiate statistics when clubs engage in informal encounters with each other to sharpen skills before the onset of winter. Nevertheless, if the reader has been keeping count, the numbers that this lass has been posting at the official record level are nothing short of impressive, even more so considering her roots originate here in the Mission Valley rather than some large metropolitan megapolis. What kind of stolen base numbers can we anticipate base-path blazer Strohm Fouty will post this final season of her collegiate senior year? Will she set another school record? Will her base stealing secure her a place among Cascade conference records? Will her cumulative collegiate total reach or exceed the kinds of numbers that she attained in high school?

These kinds of queries are deemed to be of sufficient interest to warrant proposing a contest of sorts. It is proposed that you send your prediction of how many bases you think Strohm Fouty will steal this season to sports editor Mike Cast at sports@leaderadvertiser.com. Periodically among the Sports Briefs a “Strohmtracker Whether?” number count will be featured to appraise readers of her stolen base status. The SOU regular season schedule runs through the first week of May. If SOU qualifies for the playoffs, then the season gets extended The staff at the Leader look forward to the participation of interested parties of baseball/softball persuasion.