Hawk Softball is Right Around the Corner

Canyon Lake Softball is right around the corner as Basketball season will be ending next

Vicki Henderson returns for her Senior Season

Tuesday.

The Hawks will have two huge holes to fill with the departure of Missy Romero to College competition in Mississippi and Caroline Jordan a pretty good player in her own right.

CL only lost two players in last year’s squad, but losing your most complete player in the circle and in the batting circle will be a hard cog to fill in.

Add the departure of one of your best defensive outfield players in Caroline Jordan and you have two spots in the field becoming a huge puzzle piece to this season.

Take this in with what was lost with those two players:

.356 Missy Romero's Career Batting Average
.429 Romero's Season Average last season. (All-Time Best)
 443 Number of At Bats adding both players career.
 135 Career # of hits by both players.
 117 Runs scored combining their careers.
  81 Walks. The top two in this category all time for Canyon Lake.
  77 RBI's for both players in their career.
  45 Number of runs scored by the two players last season.
  39 Combined hits last season.
  24 Walks, giving these two Hawks a two for one ratio with strikeouts.
  12 Number of strikeouts combined last year.

Get the idea? Replacing both players will give Coach John Gallagher some sleepless nights. But that is why they pay him the big bucks.

There is still a good nucleus of players that will now have a chance to also leave a mark on those same record books starting in the next couple of weeks.

Briana Young will be one of those players that will give CL a chance for a quick recovery. Young replaced Katy Payne who was mentioned as a hard to replace player last year at this time.

Young did a good job of filling in those shoes behind the plate. A catchers job is sometimes referred to as a quarterback for the team.

Helping behind the plate and from the batter’s box was paramount for CL last season. Young finished with a .315 average and had an all time record of 20 rbi’s last year.

Another eye opener of a stat was her walk to strikeout ratio, how ’bout 2 to 1 in favor of base on balls.

In softball that is a good stat to have a grasp on, for a player.

The infield will be solid having one of the best short stops in District 27-3A in Vicky Henderson. The ‘Human Vacuum’ gobbling up balls anywhere in her area.

LiliMae Daily will also hold down first base again this season with her solid glove.

McKenna Beseda brings some speed and grit to the diamond this season. Beseda led the team with 18 stolen bases last year and also garnered double digits in walks. There were only three players last season to top that double digits last year.  (Young and Romero were the other two)

Senior McKenna Besada returns with eyes on more than just a regular season.

Beseda will probably be setting the table again this year which is important in getting that first inning going in the right direction offensively. A walk can quickly become a triple when Beseda reaches base.

Look for Beseda to settle in at left field this season with her rocket arm and speed to help out defensively.

She will also lead the team in dirty uniforms.

Players that might break out with a great year based on having one more year of maturity this season.

Sophomore Kelsey Ahrens has a chance of making third base her home and Ahrens also showed a lot of power in her freshman campaign.

Hopefully her average will improve from the batters box and that could give this lineup some much needed pop.

Lillie Sander also surprised many people with her .370 average last season with her limited at bats but that potential of playing in more games will also strengthen this lineup.

Coach Gallagher will have some weapons this year along with a solid freshman class coming up that can help give the Hawks a decent chance of having a break out year.

A Coaches Corner with a schedule will be forthcoming soon here on The ReSporter.