New Faces, New Challenges

sb-cm-team-140317

cm-softballBALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP — Central Mountain girls’ softball coach Dave Peters has been doing this for a while so listen when he says, even with the loss of six seniors from his team of a year ago, don’t fear for the Lady Wildcats in 2014.

“We graduated 6 seniors from last year’s squad.  In most cases this would be a rebuilding year, but I don’t think it will be for us.  We like to say that we ‘reload’ instead of ‘rebuild.’

Peters said Central Mountain brings back eight letter-winners with varsity experience from a year ago, along with some very talented sophomores who’ve moved up to the varsity this season.

He noted the commitment some of his veterans have made to the sport, some players who have had very successful varsity careers thus far, like seniors Rachael Shady and Moriah Lindsey, as well as junior all-state selection Jessica Strouse.

sb-cm-letter-140317“This group of girls has played a great deal of travel ball together, and many participate on the Aftershock team that won the USSSA World Series this past summer.  We do have a lot of positions where there will new faces, and at this point, we’re still evaluating as to who will fill these spots, but we feel confident that we can put a strong team on the field,” Peters said.

Returning letter-winners are:
Rachael Shady – senior – P/OF
Moriah Lindsey – senior – OF
Lauren Russell – senior – C/OF
Jordan Kaler – senior – 1B/3B
Avery Shaffer – senior – OF
Cassie Weaver – senior – OF
Jessica Strouse – Junior – SS/2B
Bryann Hilty – Junior – 3B/INF/OF

The pitchers look to be:
Shady, plus sophomores Emily Strouse, Madison Brown, Sarah Reeder vying to be her backup.

With the loss to graduation of veterans Kayla Glossner at third, Brittany Koch at shortstop and Michelle Kunes at first, plus Paige Dickey as catcher, it will be a new look infield in 2014.

Peters said lots of players are pushing for time with so many openings.  Behind the plate, senior Lauren Russell and sophomore Kimmie Coder are pushing each other.  With the loss of Glossner, Koch, and Kunes in the infield, Strouse said, Central Mountain has a lot of players working out at multiple positions.  Jessica Strouse will make the move from second base to shortstop.

Another team member vying for time is junior Mariah Major, an infielder.

With the loss of many multi-year starters, Peters said the coaching staff may use a lot of different lineups early in the year “until we see who begins to take charge.  We feel like any of our 13 varsity players can start, so we believe we have good depth.”

For a second and final year the Lady Wildcats will be part of the Central Penn League, next year going into the District 4 Heartland Conference.

Peters called the CPL a tough league with lots of quality opponents. “We know that Williamsport, State College, Punxsutawney and Dubois all return good squads.  Our athletic department does a great job of getting us a lot of quality opponents, and we had some holes to fill this year after going to Tennessee last season.  We’ve added Danville and State College to our regular season schedule, and we will be headed to the very tough Mountaineer Tournament in Philipsburg this year, which includes Mifflin County, Altoona and host P-O.  We also host the Thunder on the Mountain, which will include Jersey Shore, Mifflin County, and Dubois.”

District champs in 2012 and runners-up in 2013, Peters has set lofty goals for his program this year: “We want to get ourselves back into the district playoffs and come away with another district title.  The path through districts will be difficult as State College and Mifflin County both return quality teams/pitchers.  We want to not only make into the state playoffs, but contend for a state championship.  We believe our program is continuing to grow and remains strong each season.”

Weather permitting the season opener will be next Tuesday, a home game with Clearfield, followed by a Thursday contest at home with Hollidaysburg.

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