Considering that he has won nine of them in the past 20 years, Montesano softball coach Pat Pace probably doesn’t spend a lot of time comparing state championships.

But the latest Bulldog title, last weekend, was distinctive in that it featured a significant deviation from Monte’s stylistic blueprint.

Pace has long been one of the state’s foremost practitioners of small ball, characteristically loading the top of his batting order with slap hitters and bunters.

Those type of players were notably absent from the Bulldogs’ state 1A champions this season. With such power hitters as Samantha Stanfield, Lindsay Pace, Peyton Poler, Allyssa Gustafson and Annie Cristelli on hand, Coach Pace had them swing away as much as possible.

So rare was Montesano’s deployment of small-ball tactics that Pace saw fit to immediately note it to Daily World writer Brendan Carl when the Bulldogs briefly returned to bunting during Friday’s state quarterfinal victory over Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls.

Montesano’s success in altering its standard game plan reinforced one of my pet theories about coaching: A lot of good coaches adhere to a particular style, but the best ones are flexible enough to adapt that style to their personnel.

I’m wary of coaches who attempt to pigeonhole their players into a one-size-fits-all formula. That may work at the college level, where coaches can recruit the appropriate talent to fit their styles. Too often it falls flat in high school.

In football, for example, it makes little sense to install a wishbone offense if the quarterback can’t execute the option play or to commit to 35 passes per game if the team’s best weapon is a running back.

Debbie Gibson, who resigned earlier this year as Montesano’s volleyball coach, was a master of designing offenses to fit her personnel.

While her most successful teams were the hard-hitting crews led by the likes of Jordan Spradlin and Tera Novy, Gibson also won league championships with clubs that possessed little or no power. During those years, the Bulldogs would simply outlast opponents by keeping points alive during long rallies.

Former Elma football coach Jim Hill was, for years, the Harbor’s foremost exponent of a wide-open, pass-first offense. With Ben Dougherty at quarterback, the Eagles won their first state championship, in 1997, with precisely that type of team.

Four years later, however, Elma nabbed a second state title with an offense built around running back Todd Basler — even though Hill’s son Danny was the starting quarterback.

While Basler rushed for a record 234 yards in Elma’s 43-22 championship-game conquest of Othello, it was noteworthy that Coach Hill didn’t entirely abandon the passing game. Danny Hill completed only seven passes against Othello, but four went for touchdowns.

That makes an important point. While traditional styles are altered, the original modus operandi often becomes even more effective.

It’s also an indication that athletes, not rigid styles, win championships.

An Olympic proposal

To the best of my knowledge, the only sport in which Grays Harbor has hosted a state high school championship tournament is powerlifting. One of the lesser-known facts about the varied and colorful coaching career of the late Keith Olson, who passed away recently, is that he once organized the Harbor’s first such state lifting tourney at Lake Quinault.

Aside from wrestling, the Harbor has also been bypassed when the Washington State Interscholastic Activities Association determines sites for regional tournaments.

Meanwhile, a prime candidate for a major spring sport tournament is conspicuously ignored.

Hoquiam’s Olympic Stadium would be an exceptional venue for a regional or state high school baseball tourney.

Castle Rock High School, the traditional location for district and regional 1A baseball tournaments, boasts two fields on which games can be played concurrently. That makes it a good choice for district competition.

As a regional venue, however, there’s no comparison between Castle Rock and Olympic Stadium.

The former has such limited seating, in uncovered bleachers and benches, that a large percentage of spectators are forced to stand during games (and employ umbrellas when it rains). Olympic Stadium seats upwards of 6,000 for baseball, with the majority of seats under cover. Olympic Stadium’s parking isn’t vast, but it’s still much larger than Castle Rock’s.

While Castle Rock is closer to the I-5 corridor, it isn’t exactly centrally located. Hoquiam would be at least as convenient for three of this year’s regional 1A participants (Montesano, Cascade Christian and Overlake).

Olympic Stadium, in fact, would be a suitable site for a small-school state tournament. The shortage of quality lodging, which would probably disqualify Hoquiam from staging a 16-team tournament, wouldn’t be a problem for a four-team event — particularly since Ocean Shores represents an easy commute.

There is, however, one major complication. Castle Rock has been an active bidder for regional tournaments in several sports. There is no evidence that Hoquiam school officials have ever submitted a formal proposal for such events other than wrestling. It would be interesting to see the WIAA’s reaction if they did.

Given Southwest Washington’s traditional domination of state 1A and 2B competition (seven of this year’s eight semifinalists in those classifications hailed from District IV), an even better case can be made for Centralia’s Fort Borst Park hosting a state prep softball tournament.

As my colleague Brendan Carl has observed, Centralia would need infrastructure improvements (such as installing scoreboards and permanent fencing) to stage a 16-team state tourney.

But if the WIAA is serious about increasing revenue, staging a state tournament in the home area of the better teams would appear to be a financial grand slam.

Rick Anderson: (360) 537-3924; randerson@thedailyworld.com.