HYDE – After back-to-back .500 finishes, the 2012 Clearfield Area High School softball team has the talent and experience to be very competitive in the Mountain League Allegheny Division and the District 9 Class AAA Playoffs this spring.
Eight letterwinners will provide the nucleus for the Lady Bisons, who will travel to Bellefonte for their opener Monday.
Six have earned multiple monograms, with center fielder B. J. Bowman, shortstop Andrea Butler and second baseman Melinda Owens working on their fourth letters.
Coach Bob Dixon has a trio of two-year letterwinners in left fielder Tristan Lewis, another senior, and pitcher Heather Picard and right fielder Mikayla Ebeling, both juniors.
Junior first baseman Lucy Kovalick and sophomore pitcher-outfielder Rachel Hoffman are the other returnees from last year’s team that closed with four consecutive wins for a 10-10 record.
In Bowman and Hoffman, Clearfield boasts a slugging duo that will rival any team on the schedule as far as the No. 3 and No. 4 batters.
Bowman socked 29 hits for a .500 average last year and goes into her final season with 60 hits, including a school-record 12 home runs, and a .421 career average. She also belted four doubles and one triple, drove in 11 runs and scored 22 as a junior.
Hoffman exploded onto the area scene as a power hitter with a school-record eight home runs, two triples and three doubles among her 23 hits that gave her a .365 average. She led the Lady Bisons with 23 RBIs and scored 14 runs.
“They have a lot of pop in their bats,” Dixon said. “I don’t think there are many teams that can match them.”
He is hoping Lewis (.304 in nine games) or Ebeling (.304, 17 hits and 8 RBIs) can protect his big guns as the No. 5 batter.
Owens (.276, 16 hits, 16 RBIs) is another possibility, but she’ll open in the No. 2 spot behind Butler (.254, 17 hits).
“We have a lot of options, but I’m a coach who wants to have a set lineup and not keep changing,” Dixon said. “I want everybody to know how they follow and what their jobs are in the lineup.”
One reason Dixon feels the Lady Bisons will be improved over the .291 team that averaged just over five runs is the addition of Brittany Pataky to the coaching staff.
Pataky is one of Clearfield’s all-time standouts who went on to post a .310 career average with 93 hits at Lock Haven University, where she was a member of NCAA Division II championship (2009) and runner-up (2008) teams. She led the Lady Eagles in hitting with a .381 average and was second in RBIs with 27 last year.
“She’s going to be a real big help,” Dixon said. “The girls respect her and have responded to her.
“She’s really helping with our defense, too. Some of the things they did at Lock Haven we’re instituting in our practices, lots of drills to improve the muscle memory.
“We want the girls to go out on the field and react. Don’t think about what to do. Know what you’re gonna to with the ball before it gets to you.”
While Dixon, 62-56 in six seasons at the helm, expects the Lady Bisons to be improved over-all, he is cautiously optimistic about projecting how much success they will enjoy because of a rugged schedule that includes Mountain League, District 6 and PIAA Class AA champion Philipsburg-Osceola, District 6 Class AA titlist and PIAA semifinalist Bellefonte, District 9 Class AAA champ Punxsutawney, District 6-9 Class AAAA runner-up DuBois, four other District 6 playoff teams and first-year Mifflin County squad that combines players from Lewistown and Indian Valley.
“We’ve got a lot of returning talent and some good kids coming up, and they’re working hard,” he said. “We could have a good season.
“We’re going to play one game at a time, do the best we can that night and then get ready for the next one.”
It’s no secret that pitching is crucial in softball, and Dixon is counting on Picard and Hoffman, both right-handers, to keep the Lady Bisons in every game.
Last year, Picard had 11 starts in 12 appearances and logged nine complete games with a 4-8 record and a 4.77 earned run average. She struck out 47 and walked 15 in 69 innings, giving up 98 hits and 56 runs, including 44 earned.
Picard was handed the ball early in her freshman season because of an injury Butler sustained and responded with a 9-6 record, 15 complete games and a 2.91 ERA. She worked 96.1 innings, striking out 94, walking 29 and allowing 123 hits and 65 runs, included 40 earned.
Hoffman was 6-2 with a 3.45 ERA for nine starts and one relief appearance in her rookie season. She pitched 55.1 innings with 69 strikeouts and 21 walks. Opponents managed 43 hits and 32 runs, 25 earned, against her.
“Heather pitched better than her record showed,” Dixon pointed out. “She lost some tight games and we didn’t always hit the ball well for her.
“Hoffman pitched real well and had a good year for a freshman.”
“They’ll probably go one-two all season unless one gets a hot hand and warrants more starts.”
In a pinch, Dixon could call Butler, Bowman or sophomore Megan Vanderburgh into the circle. Butler was 6-10 with a 3.62 ERA in 97.2 innings as a freshman.
Vanderburgh will be one of two new faces in the Clearfield lineup, emerging as the successor at the hot corner to Suzie Colesar, who was the lone senior last year and hit .323 with two home runs and 11 runs batted in.
“Megan worked hard in the fall and over the winter and is looking pretty good at third base,” Dixon said. “We had a lot of competition there, but Megan definitely came out on top.”
The other newcomer is freshman catcher Janelle Wallace, getting an opportunity to step right into the varsity lineup when two-year letterwinner McKenzie Moore did not rejoin the team.
Dixon described Wallace as a very good athlete who has the ability to handle the job. Junior Rebecca Byerly will be her back-up.
Clearfield is set at every other position with Kovalick at first, Owens at second, Butler at third and an outfield of Lewis and Ebeling flanking Bowman.
Hoffman will be the designated player or in the outfield when she’s not pitching.
Other back-ups who Dixon feels are capable of garnering starting jobs in the event of injuries or regulars not producing are Byerly and sophomore Taylor Humberson at first base, junior Brittany Renaud at shortstop and senior Robyn McBride in the outfield.
McBride, Humberson and Byerly are other possibilities for the designated player role.
The Lady Bisons finished their first year in the Mountain League with a 4-6 Allegheny Division record. P-O, Tyrone, Central, Huntingdon and Central Mountain will be their division opponents.
Nittany Division teams Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley and Juniata are ML cross-over foes.
The Lewistown-Indian Valley merger cost the Lady Bisons two cross-over games, so Mifflin County and Altoona were added to the schedule.
Larry Conklin and Dave Picard are the other assistant coaches, and Todd Vanderburgh will also will help when he can.
The 2012 roster, with letterwinners denoted by (*):
Seniors – B.J. Bowman (*), of; Morgan Brooks, of; Andrea Butler (*), ss; Tristan Lewis (*), of; Robyn McBride, of; Melinda Owens (*), 2b; Amanda Peoples, of-if.
Juniors – Rebecca Byerly, 1b-c; Mikayla Ebeling (*), of; Lucy Kovalick (*), 1b; Heather Picard (*), p; Brittany Renaud, ss-of.
Sophomores – Rachel Hoffman (*), p-of; Taylor Humberson, 1b-dp; Megan Vanderburgh, 3b-p.
Freshman – Janelle Wallace, c.
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The schedule, with home games in capitals and (ML) for Mountain League Allegheny Division games:
(All games at 4:15 p. unless noted)
March
26 – at Bellefonte, 4:30 p.m.; 28 – MIFFLIN COUNTY; 30 – at Penns Valley, 4:30 p.m.
April
4 – at Huntingdon (ML), 4:30 p.m.; 9 – at Central (ML), 4:30 p.m.; 11 – TYRONE (ML); 13 – PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (ML); 16 – at Central Mountain (ML), 4:30 p.m.; 20 – Bald Eagle Area; 23 – at Juniata, 4:30 p.m.; 25 – HUNTINGDON (ML); 27 – CENTRAL (ML).
May
1 – at Bradford; 2 – at Tyrone (ML), 4:30 p.m.; 4 – at Philipsburg-Osceola (ML), 4:30 p.m.; 7 – CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (ML); 8 – at Hollidaysburg, 4 p.m.; 10 – ALTOONA; 14 – BROOKVILLE; 18 – PUNXSUTAWNEY.