It’s hard, sometimes, to appreciate what’s right in front of you.

But it’s worse when you don’t notice it until it’s gone.

Ali Williams’ brilliant softball career will come to an end in less than a month, and when she and her classmates are recognized on senior night this coming Thursday, it will be the last time she bounds out of the home dugout and into her familiar spot in the circle at the Kidsports Complex.

There’s a state tournament to follow, but next week’s doubleheader against Flathead is the regular-season curtain on a four-year career unparalleled in school history and rivaling that of any athlete, in any sport, the nine-year-old school has ever produced.

“I am sure I am a little biased,” Glacier coach Andy Fors began.

“I’ve been coaching for 10 years now and I’ve been in this sport for eight years and, in my opinion, I have never seen anyone stack up — in offensive production and defensive production — like Ali Williams does.

“She’s at the very top of my list.”

Williams will graduate with just about every career record at Glacier — as a pitcher and hitter — and has a real chance to lead the Wolfpack to its second state championship when the Class AA tournament hits Kalispell May 26-28. She already led Glacier to its first title a year ago.

“What’s nice for us is she seems to be hitting her stride right now,” Fors said. “She keeps getting stronger, she’s in great shape and she’s not showing any wear and tear.”

Were she a pitcher alone, Williams’ work would still be worthy of turning heads. Her numbers this year are outrageous and even better than her dominating junior season. Entering Thursday, her 180 strikeouts this season were nearly twice as many as any other Class AA pitcher — the next-highest total was 92 — and her 0.57 ERA was easily the best in the state, too.

Of course she’s also a phenomenal hitter, tied for the state lead in home runs with eight and pacing Western AA with a preposterous .596 on-base percentage, all from the leadoff spot. Consider, too, that Williams is far and away the best hitter on Glacier’s team, so there’s not much incentive for opposing pitchers to give her much to hit.

“She’s a special kid, one of a kind,” Fors added. “We have to remember to kind of enjoy this while it’s going on and just to make sure that she takes the time to appreciate where she’s at, what she’s accomplished and all the time she’s put in.”

Had she been a football player, or a basketball player, the state would have descended on Glacier’s home games and followed the senior’s progress on the road. Instead, operating in the sports dead period called springtime, Williams has relatively quietly and unassumingly dominated all comers for the last four years.

Williams has been overlooked in her own sport, too. She’s a three-time all-state selection and virtual shoe-in for a fourth, but when it came time to look for college offers she was left with few suitors, eventually landing at Carroll College. It’s a terrific get for Carroll but Williams looks, plays and talks the game like a Division I athlete.

The Glacier senior got to show off Thursday in front of one of the state’s most revered coaches, Polson head man Larry Smith, who has helmed the Pirates for nearly 30 years. He, like Fors, puts Williams in elite company when he talks about the best softball players he’s ever seen.

“She’s right up there in mind in being one of the elite pitchers and all-around players,” Smith said after the game. “It’s phenomenal the way (Williams) can play the whole game.

“She’s the real deal.”

Whatever Williams achieves on the softball field is fleeting, and she is still just a kid, with a lot more important things than softball in her future. From all accounts, Williams is a terrific teammate and she’s nearly as decorated in the classroom as she is on the softball diamond, carrying a 4.0 GPA. According her own website, she’s hoping to study medicine in college and considering a modest career in neurosurgery.

But what she does on the diamond is nothing short of breathtaking. And there’s little time left to watch it.

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Andy Viano is a sports reporter and columnist. He can be reached at 758-4446 or [email protected].