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Softball squads set to shine on the diamond in 2020

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The three Wright County districts with a softball squad are ready compete this fall.

 

Hartville softball

The Hartville Lady Eagles softball team are hoping their hard work in practice before the season began last weekend will lead to the program improving on their 10-12 record from last season.

“We want to be competitive,” said Hartville head coach Andrew Doyle. “We will be fairly inexperienced on the varsity side, but these girls have worked hard at practice and have improved significantly over the first couple weeks. We want to be playing our best softball at the end of the fall going into districts. Our first week of games are loaded with quality teams and we will undoubtedly be faced with some adversity, but it will make us better and more competitive for the remainder of the season.”

Key returners to this year’s Lady Eagles are seniors Carly Calton and Madlynn Vaughn along with junior Centauri (CJ) Todd.

“Our offense will be a work in progress,” Doyle said. “I have seen big strides since we started, but we will need to continue to get better. The three returners will play a major role in us scoring. CJ will be at the top of the lineup and we need her to get on and set the tone for the game. Carly and Madie will be in the middle expected to drive in runs.”

Defensively, Doyle says he has 11-12 girls pushing for a starting job this year, which will make all of his players better.

“I expect us to play well defensively,” Doyle said. “It has been a big emphasis so far this fall. They cannot take a day off or they may lose their opportunity.”

Pitchers expected to lead the Lady Eagles on the mound include Calton, juniors Rami Murr and Zoey Jordan along with sophomore Brey Flachsmann. Murr is expected to get a majority of the innings this season.

 

Mansfield softball

In only losing one graduating senior from a team that lost by just one run in last year’s district championship game, the Mansfield Lady Lions are returning 12 letterwinners who have their eyes set on postseason success during the upcoming fall season.

Though the Lady Lions were just 10-13 a year ago, their late tough schedule prepared them for a run that took them all the way to the district title game.

“Our primary goal this season is to play,” said Mansfield head coach Aaron Gray. “With the craziness in the world around us, we just want the opportunity to take the field and play the game we all love. Beyond that, my goal is to be more consistent than a year ago and have players that accept their role and do their best to be ‘team first.’ We are blessed with a lot of returning players along with some solid new talent entering the program. With that, we will see girls competing for playing time. My hope is that they embrace the competition and push each other. In the end, that will make us better as a whole….Of course, our ultimate goal is getting over the hump in district play. We have made it to the championship game a handful of times, but just haven’t gotten the job done. We have the right mix of players to make it happen. We just need to be playing our best ball of the year down the stretch.”

Leading this year’s squad is senior Megan Langley, a three-year starter as both a pitcher and position player. She had twice as many strikeouts as she did walks a year ago.

Junior Madalyn Ivy will also see time on the mound and time as a position player. She struck out 53 batters in 55 innings as a sophomore. Offensively, she hit .345 with a .472 on-base percentage.

Offensively, she will anchor the middle of the lineup.

The remaining key returners include senior Ashlynn Heil (3B, OF); juniors Morgan McGuire (C, 1B), Hailey Nelson (OF, 1B, C), Maddie Coble (2B, OF), Tyra Lansdown (Utility); and sophomores Macie Tate (OF), Chloe Lemons (OF), Lauren Jones (1B, OF), Logan Jones (SS), Trinnity Davis (3B, Utility), Sadee Greene (OF, 1B), Dana Nelson (Utility) and Avery Lansdown (OF).

Lemons had 21 stolen bases last season.

Freshmen Kyra Thompson, Hailey Smith, Madison Hanger and Candience Donaho will also be competing for the Lady Lions.

 

Norwood softball

In spite of losing seven seniors to graduation from their district championship team last fall that went 16-7, a young group of Norwood Lady Pirates are expected to help the softball team be in contention for another title this season.

This year’s squad will be led by seniors Rainey Jarrett (CF), Sierra Cornelison (P, IF) and Keyera Cornelison (C, IF). The Cornelisons are seeing a significant role up the middle due to Norwood’s all-state pitcher Payton Drake and All-State catcher Josie Sullivan graduating.

Other players seeing time up the middle include junior Cassie Chadwell (P, SS) and sophomore Kylee Bradshaw (C).

Also seeing time in the infield will be Annie Sullivan, Harlie Finch and Hailey Hall.

As for the outfield, the Lady Pirates will likely get help from Catelin Campbell, Cadence Jarrett and Brooke Johnson.

“Even though we graduated a big class, we are returning a strong core of seasoned veterans who are used to winning (two district titles, two conference championships and a 2018 final four appearance),” said Norwood head coach Lori Drake. “The four veterans are ready to lead this new team.”

Like every team, COVID-19 has affected the program as Drake’s squad lost out on 10-12 games in the spring and two months of practice.

“Any time athletes have an extended break from their sport, you worry about mindset and physical conditioning when you return,” Drake said. “We were fortunate to play about five weeks this summer and were able to get in about 10 games.”

Norwood will host Seymour at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sep. 4.