By Chris Parker
Norwood softball finished 7-13 last season, which was the first time the Lady Pirates failed to finish above .500 since 2014.
Senior Cassie Chadwell will be an important piece if the Lady Pirates are to get back above .500. Chadwell threw 119 of 121 innings for Norwood last year. She had 83 strikeouts and a 5.62 ERA. At the plate, Chadwell hit .327 with a .433 on-base percentage. The senior drove in 10 runs and scored 12 as a junior.
“Cassie Chadwell will lead our team,” Norwood head coach Lori Drake said. “She has started since freshman year. She is our last player still in high school that played on the 2018 final four team. She played outfield as a freshmen, shortstop as a sophomore and took over in the circle as a junior, and will be our only pitcher for her senior season. She grew up around the game and is a fierce competitor.”
The infield around Chadwell will be fairly young. Kylee Bradshaw will be behind the plate at catcher. She is a junior, but is entering her second season of high school softball.
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Junior Catelin Campbell will play second base. She hit .286 with a.394 on-base percentage. She scored 17 runs.
Sophomores Hailey Hall, Annie Sullivan and Brooke Johnson along with freshman Autumn Gunter will likely fill out the infield. Hall played first base last year. Sullivan brings power to the offense after driving in 15 runs and scoring 10 last year. She had an .870 OPS with a .321 batting average.
Sophomore Cadence Jarrett will lead the outfield in centerfield. She hit .280 with 7 RBI and 8 runs scored as a freshman. Incoming freshmen Katelynn Bennett and Natalee Lawson will compete for time in the outfield as well.
Norwood will be playing with heavy hearts this year. A tragic accident over the summer took the life of Heidi Strong who would’ve been a varsity player for Norwood.
“Heidi Strong had earned an outfield spot during the spring season and would have started for us this fall. She was a great kid and is truly missed by all of our girls,” Drake said.
This year’s version of the Lady Pirates will try to emulate last year’s in a key way: grit and competitiveness.
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“Our strength is we compete. We only won seven games last fall, but we were competitive in all but one or two games,” Drake said. “We came out in the spring and played an abbreviated schedule, but showed improvement that rolled into our summer season. We hope those experiences pay off this fall and help us to continue to be competitive and get some wins.”
Norwood will host a jamboree with Seymour and Willow Springs on Aug. 20. The Lady Pirates open the regular season on Aug. 31 at Dora.
