By Pat Dailey (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Expectations out of Lebanon are for the Lady Yellow Jackets to challenge for the Ozark Conference championship as well a district title in whatever class they may be.
Lebanon lost 15-0 to eventual Ozark Conference champ Kickapoo last season. The Lady Yellow Jackets also lost 15-0 to Rolla in the Class 4 District 9 championship game.
Coach Stanley Crum will be counting on his team to be more competitive in such key contests this season.
“Last year, our freshmen had a ‘deer in the headlights look’ when we played Kickapoo,” Crum said. “This year, our girls are a year older and Kickapoo has to come to our place. They’re still the team to beat. But I don’t think we’ll be awed of them again. Over the summer, our girls figured out they could play against good teams.”
Crum is anxiously awaiting news from the Missouri State High Schools Activities Association on what class Lebanon will be assigned, as softball goes to five classes for the first time. By his math, the Lady Yellow Jackets could be one of the smallest schools in Class 5 or one of the biggest in Class 4.
“I can’t wait to see how that plays out,” Crum said. “We’re going to be close to the border between Class 4 and Class 5.”
Lebanon appears to have a nice mix of talented players among its veterans and newcomers.
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“We have a really good chance to have a really good season,” Crum said.
The Lady Yellow Jackets’ leader is senior center fielder Nicole Truitt, a multiple All-Ozark Conference First-Team selection during her career. She’s coming off a junior season in which she hit .435 with 21 runs scored, 14 walks and a .543 on-base percentage.
“Nicole is a very gifted athlete, a true five-tool player,” Crum said. “She hits for average and power, has a phenomenal throwing arm, a great glove and has great speed on the bases. In center field, she can run down more balls than any girl I’ve ever had.”
Truitt originally was due to pitch last season, but a right shoulder injury limited her to 17.1 innings in the center circle.
“Her shoulder bothered her all year,” Crum said. “We ended up going with sophomore Katie Schneider (pitching) the majority of our games.”
Schneider posted an 8-9 win-loss record with a 6.87 ERA over 89.2 innings. She’s back, but don’t look for her to throw that many innings this season. A .286 hitter last season, Schneider also is a catcher and third baseman.
“She will see time in all three spots,” Crum said.
Cameron Luthy, a freshman, will pitch plenty.
Crum feels she is ready for the jump from junior high to varsity.
“She’s going to be a good one,” Crum said. “She’s very precise. She hits spots like you wouldn’t believe and barely walks anybody. She has average velocity at this point. I don’t know what it is about the way she throws, but people don’t hit her hard. She doesn’t strike out a lot of girls. She gets a lot of ground balls and popups. As she gets older and stronger, she may be one of those girls who can throw with some giddy-up.”
Lebanon has one of the best athletes in the OC in Raegan McCowan, a sophomore shortstop. McCowan put up exceptional numbers on her way to an All-OC Second-Team selection as a freshman. She hit .321 with 26 RBIs 19 runs scored, 10 doubles and five home runs.
McCowan responded to her first taste of post-season pressure by hitting two home runs in a first-round District win over Waynesville.
“She spends a lot of the summer playing basketball on an AAU team around the Midwest,” Crum said. “But she’s a great athlete and softball player, too.”
McKenzie Lowrance, a junior catcher/first baseman, batted .385 with one home run and 12 RBIs on her way to an All-OC Second-Team selection, as well.
“She’s a big, strong powerful girl,” Crum said. “In the eighth grade, she did not make our junior high team. She could have easily given up. She worked hard in the off-season and made it on our team as a freshman, but didn’t play much. Between ninth- and tenth-grade years, I don’t know what happened, but she tore it up last year.”
Another All-OC Second-Team returnee is Ani Becker. She’s fresh from hitting .432 with two home runs.
Second baseman Ragan Hathaway, outfielder Cailyn Wilbanks and first baseman Taylor Roddenn also return.
Hathaway transferred to Lebanon last summer and proceeded to hit .288. Crum predicts she will better that this time around.
“She had a great summer,” he said. “She’s gotten comfortable with what we try to do and with her teammates.
Luthy may not be the only freshmen to make an immediate impact.
“We’re starting to feel the impact of our junior high program,” Crum said. “Our freshmen and sophomores are a very talented group. We have five freshmen who in any other year they could start. We’re going to have some hard-fought (battles). I just hope I can find a way to get all of them some playing time.
“It’s going to be a big problem, but a good problem to have,” he added. “You always look to the future a little bit and I believe the next three to four years, unless something happens I don’t see coming, we should make a good run.”
