By Shelley Ebbrecht
A 20-win season is a pretty respectable stat for a softball team. Undefeated in the regular season, the Strafford Lady Indians racked up 20 consecutive wins before recording their only loss on the year in the district title game to eventual state champ Mount Vernon.
The Lady Indians will begin the season down only one player to graduation, meaning the bulk of the team is returning for redemption.
“For the first time in three years we will be fielding a team with the majority of the players being upperclassmen,” said third-year head coach Dale Bean. “We have the experience of playing in big games and winning in those games. We also have the experience of feeling the pain of defeat which I believe will fuel the drive to take our game to the next level.”
Junior Zoey Mullings will return to the circle for Strafford. She was second team all-state with a 19-1 record and 1.68. Mullings was a leader on offense as well, hitting .533 with 2 homeruns, 30 RBIs and 32 runs on 32 hits.
Senior Brooke Bishop hit .454 and contributed 24 RBIs, 41 runs, 30 hits and led the team with 18 stolen bases. She returns to shortstop after earning second team all-state honors.
Rilie Vote is another senior who had a breakout year last season. She hit .369 with 33 runs, 27 hits and 11 stolen bases as the Lady Indians’ second baseman.
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Twins Hayley and Kayley Frank will return to the field for their sophomore campaign after making a splash in their rookie season. Hayley played first base and hit .387 with 25 RBIs and led with 4 homeruns. Kayley hit .333 as varsity right fielder and gained pitching experience on the JV team. She will join the varsity rotation this season after her 1-0 record on varsity last year.
Senior Samantha Gott will once again be catching for Strafford this year while Presley Floyd, junior, anchors the outfield at centerfield, rounding out the returning Lady Indians.
“Coming off a year where we won 20 games in a row before eventually falling to the state champions in an exciting district championship game, we are hoping we can reproduce last year’s success but at a higher level,” Bean said. “We only lost one starter from last year’s team and we will be more experienced and battle-tested this year.”
Strafford graduated a 2nd Team All-Conference and 1st Team All-District player in Mikayla Lorenz last season which “will leave us with a hole to fill on the infield as well as experience and leadership in the clubhouse,” said Bean. “She batted over .400 and brought tremendous experience and passion for the game that will be hard to replace.”
“We are excited about the future of our Lady Indians with our incoming freshmen class,” Bean said. “We are looking forward to seeing some girls compete with our varsity players this year in practice.”
Johnson and Collette will also be looked upon to add depth to the varsity pitching staff.
The team will kick off the season in the Shelby Estep Memorial Scholarship Tournament March 18 at Marionville. Their home opener is set for March 28 against Marionville and they will play at rival Fair Grove April 3.
