By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
After a pair of 20-win seasons in 2009 and 2010, Nixa softball has never been too high and never too low this decade. The Eagles have been consistently good over the past six years, finishing above .500 in 2016, 2014 and 2013 and below .500 in only 2015 and 2011.
That consistency continued last season when Matt Walker’s Eagles finished 16-14, falling 8-4 to Ozark in the district championship.
Looking ahead, All-Region Second Team catcher Ashlyn Robertson (.471 AVG., 4 HR) and second-team all-conference shortstop Sammi Hargis (.396 AVG., 2 HR) are gone and put up big numbers that will need to be replaced. The pair hit third and leadoff last season.
Back are all-conference selections Morgan Jones (P/IF) and Shae Milligan.
Jones will be Nixa’s biggest bat when their season begins after hitting .442 with five home runs and 34 RBIs in 2016 as a sophomore. On the mound, Jones was 11-6 with a 3.57 ERA and 64 strikeouts.
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Senior Rylie Bennet will also pitch. Bennet was 5-5 with a 5.54 ERA last season.
“Rylie spins it a little bit better. Morgan has a little bit more velocity on it. They’ll be a 1-2 punch, which is nice,” Walker said.
Bennet may also play some outfield.
“Her bat has come a long way since being a freshman,” Walker said of Bennet, who hit .253 in 2016.
Payton Ward is set to move to catcher for the first time in her varsity career, replacing Robertson. Ward hit .301 with two homers and 14 RBIs as a sophomore.
Shelby Ritz will change positions as well, moving from second base to shortstop to replace Hargis. Ritz hit .293 with 11 RBIs as a junior.
“I’m looking forward to this season,” Walker said. “It’s a new beginning. We lost three seniors last year, and they’re going to be hard to replace. So we’ll see what happens.”
Center fielder Drue Lawrence (.294 AVG., 11 RBI) and senior Lauren Herman (.232 AVG.) are back as well.
Walker pointed to Kat Mitchell, Natalie Wheeler and Sam Aring as three new names who could find themselves starting this fall.
Mitchell hit .439 on JV in 2016. Aring is a junior move-in from Argyle, Texas who just finished playing Texas’ varsity season in the spring and was named second-team all-district.
