Team looks to overcome inexperience
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School softball team lost its season opener 16-14 in frigid conditions at East Troy on March 26. Badger jumped out to an early 5-0 lead but could not hold on.
Badger led 5-0 through 1 1/2 innings. East Troy scored three in its half of the second inning. Badger answered with two more in the top of the third, but the Trojans responded with five in the bottom of the third to take their first lead at 8-7.
The middle innings saw each team take turns with the lead. Badger regained it with two runs in the top of the fourth but gave it up when East Troy scored three in its half. Badger had a big four-run fifth inning to once again take the lead at 13-11. East Troy scored just once in its half of the fifth but held Badger scoreless in the sixth. The Trojans then took control with a big four-run inning of their own to lead 16-13 after six innings. Badger scored one in the seventh, but it was not enough.
“We did well for our first time being out on a field,” Coach Emily Stipek said. Her team had not even practiced outside yet and game time temperatures were in the mid-30s.
Stipek said she made an effort to play everyone in the first game and she moved some people around defensively to get a better idea of what they can do.
“There were not too many communication errors, so I was impressed with that because we have only had a few practices,” Stipek said.
There were too many defensive errors, however, that led to many of East Troy’s runs.
“We have a lot of talent, but are still making sure we give them enough time so that the coaches can evaluate the girls at multiple positions,” Stipek said.
Sophomore catcher Morgan Moore is out because of illness as well. Until she returns, Stipek said positions might be in flux. Junior Shauna Ruck started at catcher against East Troy and sophomore Cayleen Ryan, a Southern Lakes Conference second-team shortstop last season, saw some time there as well.
Offensively the Badgers looked solid, pounding out 17 hits in scoring 14 runs.
“With their athleticism and prior experience, I was very pleased with their pitch selection and their confidence at the plate in our first game,” Stipek said.
Stipek said her Badgers only struck out four times and did well at the plate overall. A few girls struggled with timing and pitch selection, but overall they put the ball in play.
Young team
“We are a young team with a lot of talent,” Stipek said. “We need to work on jelling together and building our confidence level.”
The team has only three seniors and five juniors to go with four sophomores and four freshmen, meaning half of the team is made up of underclassmen. Some of those underclassmen are not just on the roster to learn for future contributions, either. Ryan will be the starter at shortstop. Moore will be the starting catcher when healthy. Sophomore Jordan Stritesky is the No. 1 pitcher. The No. 2 pitcher is freshman Amanda Keuhl, who started against East Troy at second base.
Badger lost three seniors to graduation that served as captains and provided great leadership in Molly Schumacher, Caitlyn Nugent and Ashley Sanew. The Badgers have several candidates to lead the team this year despite their youth.
“The youth will help us because they will be eager to learn and will be in our program for so long,” Stipek said. “They will hopefully develop into star softball players for our program and they will add a lot of depth and competition to our practices.”
Stipek said her job with the underclassmen, especially the freshmen, will be to make sure they know she believes in them and prepare them enough so they can feel confident in playing at the varsity level.
Stipek said this year’s team is better than last season’s 6-18 squad because it has more depth, team speed, and competition at practice that will push them all to get better. The key players will be Ryan, Stritesky, Moore, Emily Krahn and Kiley Johnson. Johnson was an honorable mention all-SLC player last year and started in centerfield against East Troy.
Pitching is promising
Despite its youth, Stipek said the team’s pitching looks promising and deep.
“Jordan (Stritesky) has progressed with speed and movement, and we have a great No. 2 pitcher (Keuhl) who is a freshman that I am very excited about,” Stipek said.
“We definitely have depth with pitching,” Stipek said, noting the varsity team has six experienced pitchers.
Stipek said the team will be challenged by once again playing in one of the best conferences in the state. In the preseason Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association poll, Westosha Central is ranked No. 1 and Union Grove is No. 7 in Division 1 and Delavan-Darien is ranked No. 3 in Division 2.
“The talent in the conference is unbelievable,” Stipek said. “Every game we will be facing tough competition.”
Stipek said her goal for the team is to be more competitive in every inning of every game and earn a home regional game in the post-season.
“The team needs sacrifice, understanding, and honesty to be successful this year,” she said. “With so many girls on our roster this year (16), people are going to have to play multiple positions and they are going to have to sacrifice for the better of the team.”
Stipek said they will have to understand some girls will not receive playing time in some games but will still be a big part of the win or loss because they helped develop the players who did play. “I think we can do some pretty great things this year,” she said.
Badger opens the conference season at home against Wilmot on April 7.
Stipek said this year’s team is better than last season’s 6-18 squad because it has more depth, team speed, and competition at practice that will push them all to get better. The key players will be Ryan, Stritesky, Moore, Emily Krahn and Kiley Johnson. Johnson was an honorable mention all-SLC player last year and started in centerfield against East Troy.