2013 Preview: Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs Softball
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
This season is a fresh start for the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs on the softball diamond. With a new head coach, the Lady Mustangs have more expectations this season as they look to improve overall in 2013.
The new coach for the Lady Mustangs is Howard Creighton, as the first-year varsity coach has realistic expectations as the season nears, wanting improvement on the diamond, while being competitive throughout the season.
Coming off four wins one season ago, the Lady Mustangs return seven players with varsity experience, including senior Kaitlyn Umphries (pitcher) and juniors Nikki Jones (outfielder), Megan Pointer (second base) and Kirsten Banks (first base/pitcher), along with sophomores Madysyn Creighton (shortstop), Brittany Allen (first base) and Mykenzie Reynolds (catcher).
Coach Creighton said a must for LC this season is vast improvement defensively.
"We have to be really good on defense," Creighton said. "At the plate, we need to bat for average."
Madysyn Creighton led LC at the plate last season with a .350 average, while LC lost graduated senior Sara Martin, who was one of the top players for LC last year.
New for the Lady Mustangs will be three freshmen who will be looked upon to make an impact to gain that aforementioned improvement for the season. Those freshmen will include Chelsi Hacker (outfielder), Madison Wills (outfielder/first base) and Bailey Leininger (third base/pitcher).
Also on the team this season are: Hannah Magie, Keysha Taylor, Vanessa Thiel, Julie Arnett and Kayla Campbell.
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As for the pitching of the Lady Mustangs, Umphries is the ace of the squad.
"She has good control, and that is a plus of her game," Creighton said. "As a team, we lack speed with our pitchers, but we can keep the ball in play, and if we can play well defensively, we can win a lot of games."
Coach Creighton continued to talk about the overall improvement of his team.
"I know the program has struggled as of late, but this is a work in progress," he said. "This is a good group of kids. We are building around the sophomore class, so they are getting a lot of pressure on them, but I feel they can handle it.
"We are relying on Madysyn as she's played a lot of softball in the summer on a traveling team. She's played on summer teams with Whiteoak pitcher [Kiley] Sosby. We will lean on Madysyn, and we'll need the sophomore class to help out a lot this season."
Though their ultimate goal is to compete for a Southern Hills Athletic Conference Division I championship, the expectations this season are to just improve each time out and improve from last season.
"Realistically, we want to play .500 softball and turn some heads in the tournament," Creighton said. "We want to let people know we are a program on the rise. As a team, we'll have to play small ball to improve. We'll have to use our slap bunting abilities to use our team speed to our advantage."
The new coach for the Lady Mustangs is Howard Creighton, as the first-year varsity coach has realistic expectations as the season nears, wanting improvement on the diamond, while being competitive throughout the season.
Coming off four wins one season ago, the Lady Mustangs return seven players with varsity experience, including senior Kaitlyn Umphries (pitcher) and juniors Nikki Jones (outfielder), Megan Pointer (second base) and Kirsten Banks (first base/pitcher), along with sophomores Madysyn Creighton (shortstop), Brittany Allen (first base) and Mykenzie Reynolds (catcher).
Coach Creighton said a must for LC this season is vast improvement defensively.
"We have to be really good on defense," Creighton said. "At the plate, we need to bat for average."
Madysyn Creighton led LC at the plate last season with a .350 average, while LC lost graduated senior Sara Martin, who was one of the top players for LC last year.
New for the Lady Mustangs will be three freshmen who will be looked upon to make an impact to gain that aforementioned improvement for the season. Those freshmen will include Chelsi Hacker (outfielder), Madison Wills (outfielder/first base) and Bailey Leininger (third base/pitcher).
Also on the team this season are: Hannah Magie, Keysha Taylor, Vanessa Thiel, Julie Arnett and Kayla Campbell.
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As for the pitching of the Lady Mustangs, Umphries is the ace of the squad.
"She has good control, and that is a plus of her game," Creighton said. "As a team, we lack speed with our pitchers, but we can keep the ball in play, and if we can play well defensively, we can win a lot of games."
Coach Creighton continued to talk about the overall improvement of his team.
"I know the program has struggled as of late, but this is a work in progress," he said. "This is a good group of kids. We are building around the sophomore class, so they are getting a lot of pressure on them, but I feel they can handle it.
"We are relying on Madysyn as she's played a lot of softball in the summer on a traveling team. She's played on summer teams with Whiteoak pitcher [Kiley] Sosby. We will lean on Madysyn, and we'll need the sophomore class to help out a lot this season."
Though their ultimate goal is to compete for a Southern Hills Athletic Conference Division I championship, the expectations this season are to just improve each time out and improve from last season.
"Realistically, we want to play .500 softball and turn some heads in the tournament," Creighton said. "We want to let people know we are a program on the rise. As a team, we'll have to play small ball to improve. We'll have to use our slap bunting abilities to use our team speed to our advantage."