HYDE — Experienced but still young with six sophomores among the 11 letterwinners, the Clearfield Area High School softball team, hopefully, is poised to make some noise on the Mountain League and District 9 Class AAA scenes this season.
Accomplishing those goals would mean the Lady Bison had reached the one uppermost on coach Bob Lewis’ list, a winning record.
Players on his fourth Lady Bison team were students in early elementary grades during Clearfield’s last winning season, 2008.
“We want to have a winning record, be competitive in the league and be in good position to host a District 9 playoff game instead of playing on the road,” Lewis said.
The returnees he’s counting on to make that happen include seniors Sierra Jones, Karlie Lewis and Raeleigh Redden, who have been two-year starters.
Juniors Brittani Priester and Molly Sartin and sophomores Aspen Bishop, Nikki Brossard, Brooke Cline, Abby Fedder, Erica Hanes and Myra Kavelak also earned monograms last spring.
Even with that nucleus, improving on last year’s 7-14 record that ended with a 3-0 loss at Punxsutawney in the District 9 Class AAA title game will hinge how much better the Lady Bison swing the bat and play defense.
Priester (.333) was the only letterwinner to hit higher than .290, though the Lady Bison were able to average 5.24 runs with a .236 batting average.
In the field, they were guilty of 70 misplays, and opponents made them pay for most of them with 65 unearned runs, just over three per game.
Lewis is confident the Lady Bison will produce better numbers this time around.
“They’ve progressed very well,” he said. “They put in a lot of offseason individual work, and the teamwork has been fantastic. It’s been a very tight-knit group. They’re very supportive of each other and care about each other.
“For the first time in my tenure, we have depth. Before, we could only keep nine or 10 (on varsity) when there was a jayvee game. Now, we have enough to carry 13 or 14.
“With that, you have kids battling it out for starting jobs. They push each other. That’s very good to see.”
The only non-letterwinner to crack the starting lineup is sophomore first baseman Makayla Ross, and she started the final four games last season, hitting .316.
Redden will log most of the work in the circle again after pitching 111 innings with a 7-12 record and a 4.54 earned run average as a junior. The right-hander completed 13 of 18 starts with 91 strikeouts and 45 walks. She was 2-2 in five starts as a sophomore and won her lone start as a freshman.
“Raeleigh will get 95 percent of the innings,” Lewis said.
He also can hand the ball to one of three hurlers who combined for 23 innings in 10 appearances a year ago. Lewis was 0-1 with a 5.83 ERA for 12 innings in four outings, Fedder was 0-1 with a 4.20 ERA in 8.1 innings and Hanes had a 5.25 ERA in 2.2 innings of relief.
Brossard and Kavelak provide experience behind the plate as they had 13 and seven starts, respectively, as freshmen.
Anchoring the infield will be Cline, who made the All-Mountain League Second Team at shortstop. She hit .246 and led the Lady Bison in hits (17), runs (19) and stolen bases (13-for-15) from the leadoff spot.
Jones (.236, nine runs batted in) is back at third base, where Fedder (.290) also will see action when not filling the role of designated player.
Lewis anticipates a platoon situation at second base with Sartin, a converted outfielder, and sophomore Alana Kochan, who was on the injury list last year.
Priester and sophomore Kate Lansberry will back up Ross at first base, as well being candidates for the DP role.
Boosting the number of returning starters to eight are outfielders Bishop (.262, team-high six extra base hits) in left, Lewis (.259) in center for the third year and Hanes (.286) in right. Hanes, who began last season as a second baseman/DP before getting starts in left field and center field the last six games, topped the Lady Bison in RBIs with 13 and was second in hits with 16.
Sophomore Lindsay Hand, a junior varsity infielder last year, is in the outfield mix, too.
“The outfield will be shuffled at times,” Lewis said. “All four have had a pretty good spring,” Lewis said. “Hanes could be in center and Hand in right if we DP Karlie.”
Lewis knows that cracking the upper echelon in the league won’t be easy after a 5-9 record left the Lady Bison in sixth place in 2015, with Philipsburg-Osceola, Bald Eagle Area and Central residing there in recent seasons.
“We want to be able to play those guys neck-and-neck,” he said. “I think we match up well with Bellefonte, Huntingdon, Penns Valley and Tyrone.”
Perennial District 9 Class AAA contender Punxsutawney tops the non-league slate that includes Curwensville, Glendale, Bradford, Altoona and Hollidaysburg.
Unseasonably good weather during the preseason has been a bonus as the Lady Bison prepped for their opener Tuesday against Central at the new-look Bison Sports Complex.
“We’ve been able to go outside at least 10 days,” Lewis said. “It’s kind of exciting not having to wait until the first game to walk onto a field,” Lewis said.
He pointed out that BSC has undergone several changes since last season.
“It’s pretty much a new facility, and it looks great,” he said. “The outfield was leveled and re-sodded. Pennsylvania Sod did that in early December and then came back this spring and rolled it. There’s more cushion and it’s smoother, so the players will be getting truer hops and won’t be afraid to dive for balls.
“The backstop is new, and soon there will be a permanent fence.
“Also the base has been laid down for new batting cages and pitching runs right behind the home dugout.”
Fred Redden and Todd Vanderburgh are the varsity assistant coaches, while Sandy Bailor and Eric Scaife will work with the junior varsity.
Right fielder Macala Leigey, a two-year starter, was the lone senior on the 2015 team.
The 2016 Lady Bison roster, with (*) designating letterwinner:
Seniors – Sierra Jones (*), 3b; Karlie Lewis (*), cf, p; Raeleigh Redden (*), p.
Juniors – Brittani Priester (*), 1b, dp; Molly Sartin (*), 2b, of.
Sophomores – Aspen Bishop (*) of; Nikki Brossard (*), c; Brooke Cline (*), ss; Abby Fedder (*) 3b, p; Lindsay Hand, of; Erica Hanes (*), of, p; Myra Kavelak (*), c; Alana Kochan, 2b, ss, p; Kate Lansberry 1b, dp; Kirstin Norman, 3b; Stephanie Risso-Garza, of; Makayla Ross, 1b; Marissa Sunderland, of, 1b.
Freshmen – Mazzy Aughenbaugh, of; Chloe Bower, 2b; Skyler Bumbarger, 1b, of; Hailey Daubs, of; Aspen Henschel, 3b; Laura Lanager, ss, p; Makeeli Redden, p, c, 1b; Karly Rumsky, p, 1b; Lindsay Shaw, of, p; Jaden Wetzel, 3b, of; Samantha Wisor, of.
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The schedule, with (ML) for Mountain League games, home games in capitals and all games at 4:30 p.m. unless noted:
March
29 – CENTRAL (ML); 31 – at Huntingdon (ML).
April
5 – at Bellefonte (ML); 8 – TYRONE (ML); 11 – at Bald Eagle Area (ML); 13 – PUNXSUTAWNEY; 14 – PENNS VALLEY (ML); 19 – at Philipsburg-Osceola (ML); 22 – at Central (ML); 25 – HUNTINGDON (ML); 28 – BELLEFONTE (ML).
May
2 – GLENDALE; 3 – at Tyrone (ML); 5 – at Curwensville; 6 – BALD EAGLE AREA (ML); 9 – at Penns Valley (ML); 12 – PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (ML); 16 – at Hollidaysburg; 18 – ALTOONA; 19 – at Bradford.