CL Hawks Softball Finish Season with a Promising Future
Hawk Softball had an early exit from this year’s post-season but strides were made in these last two seasons with several players that raised their game while improving CL’s record with 12 more wins this season.
“Although the season didn’t end the way we would have liked, we are still so proud of the way the girls played this season,” Head Softball Coach Hayley Galloway stated. “This group went from winning 7 games all last season to 19 this year. This group has set the standard for what the expectation of Canyon Lake Softball will be moving forward.”
Youth was in abundance and another year of seasoning has the ability to raise the goals for this talented group of ladies and a chance to going further in the post-season.
A way of evaluating this year’s team will come in comparing to The Lake’s 2018 District Championship team who went two rounds into the playoffs.
The 2018 squad had two players that are playing college ball in Bailey Bryan and Marley Carrizales. These two players would certainly be mentioned as two of the best in this sport for the Hawks.
Bryan finished with 9 home-runs that year with a .538 batting average and was able to work 12 more walks than strikeouts.
Carrizales just edged out Bryan with a .542 batting and she too worked 9 more base on balls than strikeouts.
Add Adriana Peaslee with a .400 average with Maddy Puente (.363) and Kenzie Sayles (.360) along with 4 more players with a .272 average or above for a lethal batting order.
This year’s team had an astonishing .369 batting average who were led by Sophomore Gabby Barnes with a .552 average as well as 26 stolen bases who walked 6 more times than suffering a strike-out.
Senior Riley Glenn-Millhouse was no slouch with a .458 average and a great knack as a contact hitter with just 2 strikeouts in her 96 at bats.
Emma Lane ended her career with a .333 average while playing the most demanding defense position as CL’s catcher.
Improvement from Jaden Castillo and Shelby Porter offensively helped in solidifying this year’s team.
Castillo was another contact hitter after just 5 strikeouts for her career while getting 23 free passes and batting a career .279 average.
Porter’s improvement was paramount this season playing the hot box and first base while churning out some power with her bat with 3 homers and an impressive .365 batting average.
Sophomore Alysa Johnson was nails in the field and at the plate batting .437 and her numbers have a chance of improving with a chance of moving up the line-up after losing those seniors.
Madison Hartman duties were more intense by not just playing defense but batting .240 while leading the team with 13 sacrifice bunts that helped move runners into scoring position.
Freshman will be fun to watch next season with Rianna Gonzales proving her value in the circle and with her bat after finishing with a .328 and Cheyenne Fields showing that Canyon Lake has a chance of fielding that catcher position with the loss of Lane.
Gabby Rivera started improving her batting as the season matured along with Adrianna Teutsch in mostly a pinch-hitter roll but responded with a decent .333 average from the box.
Pitching wise, Gonzales has already been mentioned and that 2018 team used two pitchers much like this season and seeing the improvement from Barnes was good to see as her pitching was more consistent than her freshman year. Continuing that improvement will pay dividends as this all-star continues with a chance to re-write some lofty Canyon Lake records with still two more seasons of raising the bar.
Consistency from the circle would help in getting that improvement needed as well as seeing how this group improves before being issued those uniforms next February.
Coach Galloway gave final thoughts to the Seniors, “This senior group is special because I have gotten to watch them grow from little 14 year old freshman to the young adults they are today. It has been so much fun to watch them mature both on and off the field. I cannot wait to see what they do in the next chapter of their lives. I know whatever it is they will be successful.”
Way to GO SENIOR HAWKS!!