Tahoma High’s fastpitch team wants to pick up right where it left off in 2010 minus the disappointing playoff losses that found it just short of a state berth.

Senior co-captain Emily Miller said she is looking forward to the season starting because the team will turn up the intensity.

“We’re ready,” Miller said. “We lost our outfield but that’s all.”

Miller pointed to a core group of seniors that have played together for three years who are hungry for a South Puget Sound League 4A North title all to themselves — last season Tahoma and Kentlake split the division title after their only league losses were to one another — as well as the school’s first state tournament appearance since moving from slowpitch to fastpitch.

“We need to take it game by game this year and day by day,” Miller said. “We need to get all the wins we can get. We have a few team goals, the first one being to have a consistent record and win the league championship. We want it really bad.”

Looking at where this team has come from since head coach Tom Milligan took over seven years ago and where it is now, Miller explained, it has come a long way but they still have lofty goals.

And with signing a letter of intent to play college ball at Towson University last fall Miller can also focus this season on helping lead the team along with co-captain Lisa Maulden.

“For me having that out of the way took so much pressure off knowing where I’ll be in eight months” Miller said. “So, I can take each day (one) at a time (and) focus on winning a league championship.”

Miller points to the fact the group of seniors have played together so long as Tahoma’s primary strength.

“Knowing that we have good chemistry,” she said. “I think our hitting is going to continue to be a strength. Sammii (Jimenez) has the confidence to carry us this year.”

Maulden said the key to building on last year’s success is to work hard in practice, to be focused during games and believe they will win every time the Bears step between the lines.

“We need to play our game,” Maulden said. “We need to play Tahoma softball.”

Tahoma softball has a stable of returning players, including Jimenez, who will be the team’s No. 1 pitcher for the third season.

In 2010, Jimenez went 16-5 overall on the mound while hitting .423 at the plate, tallying 19 RBIs and earning First Team SPSL North as a pitcher.

Completing the battery is senior catcher Shelby Carter, who was Second Team SPSL North at catcher, along with a .400 batting average, three home runs and 22 RBIs.

Maulden, who plays first base, hit .420 with 32 RBIs, nine stole bases and earned First Team league honors.

To round out the senior class, Kiley Dunn returns at third base, while Courtney Visaya will be in the outfield after hitting .455 with three triples last year.

Juniors Haley Beckstrom, shortstop, and Jordan Walley, at DP and pitcher, also return this year.

Beckstrom scored 25 runs and stole 10 bases while making the SPSL North Second Team and Walley hit .419 at the plate last year to go along with smacking four homers, collecting 19 RBIs and earning SPSL North First Team honors.

While Kentlake is an obvious threat, Maulden said, the SPSL North is going to be strong again.

“You can’t leave anybody out because every team has a chance to win,” she said. “You have to go out to play to win and not just go out there just to play.”

Maulden said the path to state includes winning the first game at the West Central District tournament, something the team has struggled with in the past.

“We just need to have the mentality that we think we’re going to win, we have to know we’ll win and play like it,” she said.

Milligan said getting to state is the bottom line for the team and the most important thing is to peak at the right time: during the SPSL playoffs.

“That’s when you have to play your best ball,” he said. “You have to be hitting well. You have to win games.”

This year with a core of eight players, Milligan said, the biggest difference is determining who will be role players who can step up and do the right things at the right times especially during the post-season.

“It’s just identifying the things we were missing in the playoffs,” he said. “Finding those role players. The cream rises to the top.”

Miller has confidence Tahoma can accomplish everything it has on its to do list for the 2011 season.

“We have big goals,” she said. “But I don’t think it’s bad that we big goals.”