By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Softball is a game of inches.
A team’s destiny can be determined by the slimmest of margins, like if a pitcher successfully paints the corner for a game-ending strikeout or misses her mark, issues a walk and spurs a rally.
The 2020 season added another distance-based element to the game — one that has absolutely nothing to do with any of the action on the field, but could still seal a team’s fate.
Such was the case in Cassville, where the softball team’s season abruptly ended not with any of the dozens of heartbreaking scenarios native to the sport — a walk-off home run, blown call or error, to name a few — but in a manner that proved to be more gut wrenching than any of them.
The Wildcats had just concluded their regular season by defeating Seneca, the same team they were set to face in the first round of the district tournament. One of their pitchers missed the finale due to COVID-19 contact tracing and quarantine procedures, but they won anyway. They regrouped and returned to practice with a chance to secure the school’s first playoff win in three seasons.
Then coach Lori Videmschek’s phone rang.
It was the Cassville athletic director, who informed her that at least four additional players needed to be quarantined because they were studying less than six feet — 72 inches — away from another student who had fallen ill. Videmschek did some quick math and realized what that meant.
Their season was over.
“I stopped practice and I had to tell them, because at that point we had seven kids that were left,” the coach recalled. “We didn’t have enough to play — and so we had to shut down.”
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One difficult conversation later, Videmschek and the Wildcats parted ways.
“We shed some tears,” Videmschek said. “It was tough. We were really excited about going in and having that second seed in districts. And sending them home, our season was over just like that. It was tough. They went home and a lot of the kids were just distraught because they had worked all season to get to this point and then it was just gone in a flash — and they remember that, especially these seniors this year. They don’t want this to happen again. We want to make sure we can compete.”
The Wildcats needed to forfeit their playoff game and officially finished the year 12-12.
While they tripled their win total from the previous season — making it the school’s most successful year since Videmschek took over in 2018 — there was little to celebrate in that moment.
“That’s the hard part about it,” Videmschek said. “We had to follow the county and (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines on when you get exposed. At that point, you were quarantined after that for 14 days. When all that happened, we were just sort of stunned.”
Videmschek said none of her players tested positive for COVID-19 in the wake of the situation that triggered the season-ending phone call. Two players contracted the disease later in the school year.
“Some of my kids were real cautious in what they were doing,” Videmschek said, noting several wore masks despite the district having no mandate at the time. “But because they were studying next to a kid that wasn’t six feet away and then he shows up and leaves school to go get tested because he doesn’t feel good and then — boom — we get four or five kids quarantined. It happened just like that.”
If players had been slightly farther away, perhaps it would not have. But this was the reality of trying to play high school sports during a pandemic. This could have happened to any team — and still can.
While statewide COVID-19 cases trended favorably at the beginning of the calendar year, the numbers have surged in recent weeks. Given the way the pandemic prematurely ended their 2020 season, Videmschek said the Wildcats would “be very cautious in what we’re doing” in the coming weeks to minimize the chance of COVID-19 affecting their ability to play as scheduled.
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“That’s a big concern right now,” Videmschek said. “We’re just hoping we’ll be able to get through a season and not have our kids quarantined, but there’s no guarantee with the way it’s going right now. To me, it’s worse now than it was in the fall of 2020.”
If given the opportunity to see it through, this season could be one of Cassville’s best.
The Wildcats will have eight returning starters, though none of them had a larger impact than the one that graduated. All-state shortstop Kyren Postlewait hit .551, drove in 25 runs, stole 16 bases, scored 33 runs and hit seven homers in her senior season — all team-leading totals.
“She pretty much did everything for us,” Videmschek said. “It’s really hard to fill her shoes.”
Cassville will turn to four seniors — pitcher/first baseman Isabelle Edwards, catcher Kenzie Dilbeck, second baseman Emilee Mann and outfielder Ryleigh Burnette to provide leadership.
Edwards (4-6, 4.03 ERA) and junior Alyssa Whisenhunt (7-4, 3.02) were both all-conference and all-district selections, giving the Wildcats two viable yet distinctly different options in the circle.
“Alyssa is going to spin the ball and she’s going to change some speeds up a little bit,” Videmschek said. “She’s very deceiving when you see her throw. Isabelle is more of a power pitcher. She’s going to give you the hard stuff, the rise ball. She’s got a great changeup. She can move the ball in and out and developed a curveball over the summer. She’s doing some things very well for us.”
Either could be considered the No. 1 pitcher, the coach added, and they will also split time at first base depending on who is throwing. Sophomore Taylor Smith gives the Wildcats a third pitching option.
They will all throw to Dilbeck, an all-district and all-conference selection whose 23 runs batted in are tops among returning Wildcats. She also hit .385, trailing only Edwards (.409) and Postlewait.
Mann hit .263 and stole seven bases, which tied for second on the team.
Burnette drove in 21 runs and batted .250, earning her an honorable mention on the all-Big 8 team. Two more returning starters, Kailey Artherton and Macie Walker, will join her in the outfield.
“These kids have got a little bit of a chip on their shoulders,” Videmschek said. “They feel like they got cheated a little bit last year, so they’ve really worked hard in the offseason to get better.”
Junior third baseman Ashlynn Bryan is another returning infielder who packs power at the plate, but the biggest question surrounding the team is who will take over Postlewait’s position at shortstop.
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Videmschek said Whisenhunt and Edwards could both see time there, but freshman Kyler Hayward performed well in the role over the summer and improved her chances of winning the job.
Four other freshmen could be varsity contributors this season. Lauren Sparkman, Aleigha Bryan, Kyla Bowling and Kaylee Lowe will all be pushing the upperclassmen for playing time.
“The culture is turning at Cassville,” Videmschek said. “Kids are excited about playing softball. They want to get better. They want to win. It’s just changing that culture and getting them to believe that they have a chance to win each and every game they go out and play.”
Videmschek believes this roster could contend for the Big 8 and district championships — but their immediate goal is to have the school’s first winning season since going 14-9 in 2016.
“I feel really confident about coming into this season and competing at a very high level — one that we haven’t competed for in a long time,” she said.
Videmschek also has the opportunity to achieve a rather unique coaching feat.
After guiding Purdy to the Class 1 title during the spring softball season, she now has the chance to lead a second school to a state championship in the same sport — in the same calendar year.
“It’d be awesome, but it’s going to be a hard road to get there,” Videmschek said.
That journey starts when the Wildcats open the season at the Morrisville Tournament, which begins on August 27. Cassville’s Big 8 opener is set for August 31 at Nevada, part of a four-game road trip that includes stops in Carl Junction, Joplin and fellow Big 8 opponent Logan-Rogersville.
The Wildcats do not play a home game until September 13, when Marshfield comes to town.
