CM Softball: Something Old, New and Likely Good
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP—The Central Mountain girls’ softball program has been good, very good in recent years and coach Dave Peters is hopeful 2015 will be no exception.
Just as a year ago, the Lady Wildcats have been hit hard by graduation but Central Mountain “reloaded” in 2014 and Peters believes that formula should work again this spring.
Central Mountain has had to replace half a dozen or so starters in each of the last couple seasons but has not missed a beat: District 6 champs in 2012, runners-up in 2013 and last year a district title and a run to the PIAA state quarterfinals.
Some key players from that 2014 squad have graduated, but coach Peters said the team welcomes the 2015 challenge:
“This season brings a lot of new challenges. We enter a new league (Heartland Conference), so we will see a lot of new teams which will bring some new challenges. We lost some talented seniors and we’ll need to see who steps up to replace their leadership. We may have the greatest depth of talent that I have seen in my time here. This is the closest competition we have seen.”
Peters said he would be using much of March to decide who will be varsity and who will be jayvees.
The Lady Wildcats are working with a turnout of 27 players, a number the coaching staff is pleased with. Key returnees include Jess Strouse, Bryann Hilty, Mariah Major, Emily Strouse, Madison Brown, Sarah Reeder and Kim Coder.
Newcomers/backups looking for playing time this year were listed by the staff to include Courtney Poorman, Alexis Dershem, Karli Coleman, Emily Caprio, Alexis Johnson, Lauren Marasco, Averie Pringle, Ashley Glossner, Josie Dershem, Caitlyn Brush and Skylar Smith.
The program gained some statewide recognition this month when Maxpreps tabbed the team number one in the state preseason, something Peters said made the team “proud and excited.”
“It says a lot for our program and the progress we’ve made to be recognized at this level. We discussed it as a team, and I believe we understand that a preseason ranking is a great honor, and it does bring some added pressure. We expect that it will give other teams motivation to try and knock us off and bring their best game. I hope the girls look at it as a new challenge to try to maintain that ranking throughout the season. We have lots of goals as we enter the season. We want to represent ourselves well in our new league. We’ll look to put ourselves in a position to defend our district championship, and get back to the state playoffs.”
Peters acknowledged the preseason ranking put added pressure on a team that lost five senior starters. “However, if you look back we did the same thing last season and went 18-4. We have two senior players returning that received all-state recognition, Jess Strouse and Bree Hilty. They both hit .462. Mariah Major, another senior, hit .420. Junior Emily Strouse was 4-1 on the mound, and pitched well in both state playoff games. Madison Brown hit .346 in limited at-bats last season, and she’ll look to be regular in the lineup this year. Kimmie Coder and Sarah Reeder both saw varsity action last season and are eager to show what they can do with more regular playing time.”
The Lady Wildcats traveled 18 players to the district and state playoffs last year, and 15 of them participated in the playoffs. Peters indicated program continuity is paying dividends: “I think one of the best things about our program is that we’ve gotten to the point where we replace good players with other good players. Our kids understand that we have a lot of talented softball players in our program, and they know that they’ll need to work hard, compete, and perform well to earn playing time. I think the maturity level of our girls has grown a ton in understanding that there are only so many positions and inning to be played. Our players are beginning to accept and understand their roles, and I think they take pride in being a part of our program.”
Noting the number of difficult regular season opponents Central Mountain faced in recent years, Peters said the new schedule brings “a lot of unknowns with the conference change, and it only leaves six non-conference dates.”
He said the school has looked to fill its non-conference games with quality AAAA teams like Williamsport and State College to prepare for playoffs. The program also returned its April Thunder on the Mountain tourney to an all AAAA tournament, and added another quality team in Hempfield out of the WPIAL.
The Lady Wildcats are scheduled to play at new Heartland Conference opponent Mifflinburg on Thursday and travel to Midd-West next Thursday, April 2. Home opener is set for Tuesday, April 7 with Altoona.
