Like the baseball team, the Tartan Pride softball team is making plenty of noise as well. The Pride have won 16 of their last 17 games, 12 of their victories have been by at least 5 runs. In the beginning of the season they started out 4-4 and were a bit rough, but since have dominated on all sides of the field.
“We started out our season in Florida the first week of March. We hadn’t been on a dirt infield or grass since the last week of October. We had a couple of bad innings defensively, and we left to many runners on base. Now, our pitching is very consistent, we keep getting timely hits, and our defense is where it needs to be,” explains coach Steven Beachler.
Also just like the baseball team, the Pride are setting up for a month full of conference games which will ultimately determine whether they make the playoffs or not. The team is averaging almost nine runs with a staggering batting average of .431 so offense does not seem to be an issue. Even more impressive has been their pitching. During their 16 of 17 stretch, they have shut out their opponent five times, and did not allow more than five runs in any game, even during their only loss. With all this being said, Beachler still says they need to keep getting better.
“We need to keep getting better, and do the little things right. We know the conference games are going to be tough and the coaches keep preparing the players to win close games. We try to keep the players loose and tell them not to let up,” says Beachler.
Since their improvement from the beginning of the season, Beachler explains how all of their players have been ridiculously good on hitting. The team is the top tier in the country. Freshman Liz Hillen is hitting .513 with 34 RBIs with three homeruns. Sophomore Madison Monnin, who was also co-conference player of the year and an all region player last year started right where she left off. She is currently hitting .507 and has been playing lights out defense at first base with zero errors. Rachael Ward is hitting .500 and Kelly wood is hitting .478 with five homers and has knocked in 32 RBIs.
Beachler has also expressed how pitching was a bit of a mystery coming into the season.
“Pitching was a big question mark coming into the spring. Sophomore Kaila Sturgell missed the fall season because of shoulder surgery. She came back strong. She is currently 4-0 with a 4.50 era. Freshmen pitchers Haleigh
Perry and Chloe Yates are doing very well and have improved greatly on being consistent in their pitches. Haleigh is 9-2 with a 2.12 era and Chloe is 7-3 with a 3.35 era. Chloe pitched a no hitter earlier this season against Cuyahoga,” says Beachler.
The team continues to be powerful in their games and have definitely found their stride. Now it is all about keeping momentum and continuing to do all the little things correctly. If the team continues to click on all cylinders, then Sinclair should be represented well down the stretch.
Matt Summers
Sports Editor