By Tyler Killian
Rich Hamilton is getting used to it. Not to winning — that doesn’t get old, no matter how many times people ask him, futilely hoping for an answer that never comes.
But after four straight state championships, the Mesa Red Mountain softball coach is getting used to fielding questions about the run the program is on, and you can hear the weariness in his voice whenever someone brings up the word “dynasty.”
“We don’t talk like that around here,” Hamilton said. “We’re confident, but we’re not cocky. People like to use the word ‘dynasty,’ but that’s for other people to use. We don’t do that. We come out every year with the same goals in mind and work to make those things happen. If that’s what a dynasty is and that’s what people want to emulate, then so be it. But we don’t talk like that.
“How else can you be? What we’ve done in the past isn’t going to make us better now. I guess people could say the success that you’ve had breeds more success. OK. I agree with that. But you can’t rest on your successes. You do that, you’re going to get passed in a hurry.”
That’s the culture that has been established around Red Mountain, and that’s the philosophy that Hamilton and his coaching staff have instilled into its players.
Here’s a challenge: Try to get one of them to make more than a passing mention of the success the team has seen recently, particularly in the past few years. Good luck.
“I mean, sure, we talk about what’s happened in the past and how well we’ve done,” senior Marian Ruf said. “But we know that it’s not going to be given to us. Every team’s going to be fighting us every single year, every single game. It’s not going to be given to us, so we have to take it.
“We might have won the last four state championships, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to win this one. We have to keep working.”
Because of the reputation Red Mountain has built, it might seem logical that talented players would flock to it from across the state.
But for the most part, the program has used homegrown players to fuel its run. In fact, the reverse is often true — several girls have spurned Red Mountain for more playing time at other schools, choosing individual glory over team success.
That’s OK. Red Mountain doesn’t miss them.
“We know that there are a couple girls who should’ve gone here and didn’t, and went somewhere else because they thought they would get more time at another school,” Hamilton said. “That’s fine. If they don’t want to play here, why would I want them? We want to find kids who want to play here.”
And once they come, they’re well taken care of.
All six of this year’s graduating seniors will be playing softball in college next season.
That class is led by pitcher/first baseman Breanna Macha, who will head to Arizona State and attempt to follow in the footsteps of former Phoenix St. Mary’s star Dallas Escobedo.
Macha was the winning pitcher in each of Red Mountain’s past three championship victories, and she’ll attempt to pull off the rare feat of going 4 for 4 this May.
“I set a goal in eighth grade,” she said, “and that was to try and get all four state titles. So the fact that I could actually make that happen is pretty unexplainable.”
She and her teammates don’t have to worry. Other people can try to explain it. Red Mountain will just keep doing it.