By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For much of the last two decades it would have been hard to picture Flave Darnell in a Webb City uniform.
Darnell spent 15 years as the head coach at rival Carl Junction and 18 years with the Bulldogs program, winning five district championships in the process. He stepped down before the 2018 season and worked as an assistant under Carl Junction’s Jake Stevenson for one year.
Then he took a job at Webb City. And then an assistant coaching spot opened up. And there was Darnell last spring, still wearing red and white, but with a little Columbia blue mixed in.
“And then the head job opened up while I was here and I just thought it was a good time to try to get back to being a head coach,” Darnell said.
After one year on Garry Highfill’s staff, Darnell will replace him at the helm this season after Highfill resigned last summer. He went 61-26 in three seasons.
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The Cardinals won Class 5 District 11 last year but lost to Willard in the sectional round and finished with a 17-12 record.
This won’t be the first time a Darnell has coached at Webb City. Flave’s brother Bryce coached the Cardinals for several years before taking the head coaching job at Missouri Southern 13 years ago. The brothers have two sons who are freshmen on the team.
Darnell inherits a roster with at least four returning starters but must first cope with the loss of graduated senior Cade Beason, a first team all-conference utility player. Beason went 4-3 on the mound with a 2.4 ERA and batted. 333 with 18 RBI’s.
“He was a big workhorse for us,” Darnell said. “Hit in the middle of the lineup last year and he pitched quality innings last year for the varsity team.”
Draydon Emery and Alex Bass also graduated and pitched out of the bullpen. Bass, who’s now playing for Division 2 Washburn, recorded three saves and Emery pitched to a 2.7 ERA.
The other losses include shortstop Zach Biastock, outfielder Manuel Peskar, hitter Bryson Matthews and outfielder Jacob Monroe. Monroe had four doubles and seven stolen bases.
The returning starters are junior Treghan Parker, who will probably be at third or second; senior Cale McCallister, a third baseman and pitcher; senior Devrin Weathers, an outfielder and pitcher; and senior Cade Hicks, a catcher.
Parker, a first team Central Ozark Conference infielder, was a .420 hitter last spring with four doubles and four triples. McCallister, a second team COC infielder, hit .292 with 12 RBI’s and 11 stolen bases; he was 2-1 on the mound with a 4.6 ERA. Weathers stole 10 bases and batted .346. Hicks was a .284 hitter who hit four doubles and drove in 13.
Seniors Dillon Harlan and Blake Smith also lettered, as did juniors Cole Gayman and Shane Noel. Gayman, a second team all-conference pitcher, went 7-2 on the mound with a 2.33 ERA but is currently recovering from an injury. He would be in the starting rotation when healthy.
“We feel good about our offensive lineup and our defensive play and we also feel good about the pitchers we have,” Darnell said. “We need our pitching staff to gain some experience in varsity contests but we like what we see so far in the offseason.”
Harlan could be an everyday player either on the infield or outfield. Junior Shane Noel will be in the running at shortstop.
On the mound, Darnell likes what he’s seen from junior Noah Mitchell, who was 5-3 with a 2.9 ERA in junior varsity last year. He’s also counting on senior Wyatt Hodson to pitch some big innings.
“I’d say our big storyline is going to be just getting our pitching staff experience,” Darnell said. “We’ve got a pitching staff that’s coming back that we think is very capable of winning big games but we’ve got to get them in those big games. We really feel we’re going to be as good as we can be come May. That’s going to be our goal. I think the biggest storyline is if our pitching staff can come along like I think it can, we’re going to be a tough team to beat come May.”
The Cardinals also need to shore up some defensive positions.
Offensively, Darnell expects Weathers, Parker and McCallister to be big run producers, and Noel and Hicks could help.
“Our goal is to put the ball in play and we really feel like we run well,” he said. “Put the ball in play and pressure the other team’s defense. Execute well with the bat by moving runners. A little mix of everything. We feel like we’ve got some guys who can put the ball in the gap and some guys who can pressure the defense with the way they run.”
When the Cardinals finally take the field for the first time in March, they’ll do so on an improved playing surface. Webb City’s entire infield is now artificial turf, as is foul territory on either side all the way to the outfield fence. There’s new grass in the outfield with a new watering system, and the rest of the stadium has essentially been rebuilt: a new backstop, new dugouts, new fencing.
“We’re really excited for that to get buttoned up and get going,” Darnell said.
