[wpbvideo id=’304683′]The Lincoln Cardinals have soared over every team they’ve faced this season, outscoring their opponents 231-18. It’s a team effort, but no player signifies that domination more than senior pitcher Sloan Swearingin.
“Lincoln softball had struggled for a couple of years because they hadn’t had strong pitching,” Head coach Staci Siercks said, “but I knew that Sloan had that ability”
That’s putting it mildly. Swearingin is averaging nearly two strikeouts every inning this season as a pitcher with her overpowering arm.
“I’ve put some dents in some buildings,” she recalls. “We go inside and I’ve put some dents in the facilities – but I haven’t broken anything yet!”
When she grabs a bat she’s just as lethal – hitting .607 before last week’s quarterfinal. Hitting was the only real “hole” in her game coming into the season – if you think hitting .300 means she needed to improve. But competition runs in her family. Her cousin is Lincoln’s quarterback, Boone Kroenke.
“When we were younger we were rivals all the time,” Swearingin said. “We’d ride stick horses and race around my grandma’s house because we wanted to win.”
She had the early advantage in those match-ups, but even when Boone started winning, Swearingin never lost her competitiveness.
“They all compete, and they all want to win,” Siercks said. “That winning mentality was instilled in her when she was very young. She’s brought that to our team.”
Now, Swearingin has the Cardinals knocking on the door of a state championship.
