Softball: All-Time and Spotlight Player for next Season
The ReSporter has four team sports that need to be looked over for All-Time player and
Pitcher Missy Romero
Spotlight player these next couple of weeks.
The ReSporter still has Softball, Baseball, and Boy’s and Girl’s Track squad. Yes, track can be described as an individual sport, but if athletes can perform well enough, CL’s Track teams can win team titles at several stadiums. (Hence Team Sport)
Softball will be our project for this article as we delve into some players that have been pillars throughout these past six years.
The ReSporter likes sports like this, since numbers by individuals can be a pivotal ingredient for how the team can and will perform.
In Softball, The Circle, is vital for any team that wants to compete at a high level. So, with that as a backdrop it won’t come as a surprise in naming Missy Romero as the most valuable player.
But, The ReSporter would like to highlight other players and give them the kudos befitting them and reasons why they also deserve recognition.
Our first player to show off would be Katy Payne. Payne was the first player to hit a home run over a fence.
Payne also played catcher and started what has been a pretty solid dual with Brianna Young following her, but we will get to that later.
A pretty decent set of stats for a player that plays one of the most demanding positions in softball.
Katy Payne rankings based on Seniors and Graduated players only. Batting Average: .300 Ranks 3rd Hits: 63 Ranks 4th Runs Batted In: 40 Ranks 2nd Plate appearances: 220 Ranks 4th
Tiffany Arredondo gets her second mention after being recognized for our Basketball article. Arredondo was a base stealing machine.
Arredondo stole three bases in one inning which has to rank right up there with one of the hardest feats to pull off in softball. Her 53 runs ranks third on the all time list as well as being only two runs off from her number of hits.
If Arredondo could get on base, then she had a 73% chance of scoring when you factor in walks when reaching base.
McKenna Beseda making the play
McKenna Beseda who will be walking across the stage soon also makes this exclusive sorority of ladies.
Beseda ended her career with the all-time best batting average with a salty .370 percentage. She also tied Arredondo with 34 steals and finished with 90 hits.
Add her defensive playing in Centerfield and you can see how this loss will keep Head Coach John Gallagher up for several nights.
McKenna Beseda Batting Average .370 Ranks 1st Hits: 90 Tied for 1st Runs: 74 Ranks 2nd Stolen Bases: 34 Tied for 1st Plate appearances: 243 Ranks 2nd
Either first or second with those categories and of course The ReSporter always found joy in how many time Beseda would hit her shoes on the ground before each pitch. She looked and acted like a raging bull that was ready to run around the bases.
The Henderson girls, Alex and Vicky were also nails in the infield. Alex played second while Vicky had her home at short stop. That is another person Coach Gallagher will have a hard time in replacing in his infield.
Here are combined stats for the sisters. ab r h bi 2b sb ave.
Alex and Vicky Henderson 444 86 118 45 7 49 .266
Now the pressure will be on Liz Henderson as she has just finished her Sophomore year and will need to keep those stats going in the right direction.
Without a doubt Missy Romero was an all-round player deluxe. Romero not only excelled in the circle but her batting and fielding were top notch also.
So far, she is the only player to get a scholarship and you can go to an article printed last week on how this young lady won her college team’s Offensive MVP this past season.
Missy Romero's Stats Batting Average: .359 Ranks 2nd Runs: 77 Ranks 1st Hits: 90 Tied for 1st Runs Batted In: 55 Ranks 1st Doubles: 24 Ranks 1st Triples: 9 Ranks 1st Home Runs: 2 Ranks 1st Base on Balls: 55 Ranks 1st Stolen Bases: 22 Ranks 5th Plate appearances: 251 Ranks 2nd
Romero had an OBP (on base percentage) of .578 which is ridiculous good. (don’t know if that last phrase is correct, but these stats make your fingers do wild things on a key board)
Not finished: Romero finished her career needing only 1.2 innings to reach 500. She finished with 528 strikeouts which gives the defense only needing two outs during an inning to get their opponent to go back in the field to play defense.
A sparkling 2.77 earned run average would translate only needing to score three runs for a win. However, this stat also is skewed since a lot of players would reach base via an error.
Romero’s 36 wins will also be a hard number for the next generation of pitchers to break.
Now you can understand how this was a fun article for a stat person to write.
Now after you cool down thinking about those numbers, lets start going through this coming year’s team and which player will be someone to watch and have a Spotlight on.
Three infield positions will have to be filled and also an All-District Centerfielder. That will be some tough decisions Coach Gallagher will be making during this off season.
However, you have Alexis Robinson with a year under her belt which can be a lifesaver for a team as we wait for another year to arrive.
Robinson also had 1.4 strikeouts per inning which will give the defense needing to execute 1.6 outs per inning. One can hope that Robinson might be able to improve upon that ratio.
Kelsey Ahrens taking her swings
For every percentage point that goes up will help any defense no matter what their skill level might be.
Oh, and did we mention her .359 batting average last season? Robinson did seem to be running out of gas at the end of last year, but another year of strength can only give optimism for how the Hawks might perform.
Kelsey Ahrens is another key player for Canyon Lake as she will now be in her Junior year and seeing how much her batting and fielding improved last season can also give fans a warm fuzzy in thinking how this young lady will handle this upcoming season.
Ahrens third base fielding was also peaking during the year and one can hope that also continues to excel.
A great stat for Ahrens was how she finished her year at the plate. For the year she batted.347, but just using her district stats Ahrens had a .394 average and that was against better pitching and also when other players might have been waining as the season was coming to a close.
The ReSporter would like to Spotlight Brianna Young for this upcoming season. The ReSporter has already given you, in talking about Katy Payne, an idea of how hard playing catcher all year long would be.
A catcher is the quarterback of a Softball team and Young has proven that she has been up to that task. Young will also be a Senior and she will have that added pressure of getting the troops up for battle.
Handling Robinson goes with that agenda as well as still bringing a big stick to games with her.
The ReSporter noticed that Young was not as strong as the season was getting near the end last season. Young also is paired with Payne as the only two Hawk players with home runs going over a fence.
The ReSporter remembers talking to Payne after she had finished her final season and how she mentioned that hitting that home run did more damage than good, since she would come to the plate wanting to repeat that feeling and thus taking her away from how she needed to react at the plate.
Briana Young
Has Young fallen into that same trap? Time will tell, but one thing you will notice about Young is her ability to reach base via a walk. One third of her plate appearances resulted in a walk during district play and getting on base was a trademark.
She led the team in doubles and the Hawks will need that type of bat and leadership again this coming season.
The Spotlight will be on Young in more than just numbers but also how she can rally the troops to plug those holes mentioned earlier and rise this team for a chance of playing after the District 27-3A season ends.
Good luck ladies.
