Preview: Van Wert Lady Cougars softball

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A mix of returning letter winners and promising newcomers are hoping for the chance to jump start Van Wert’s softball program this spring.

Fourth year head coach Greg Steinecker has six letter winners back from last year’s team that finished 4-15 (1-8 WBL) and eight others ready to step up if the 2020 season gets underway next month.

Those players will be called on to replace seven letter winners who graduated after last season, including a trio of three-time letter winners – Olivia Kline, Drew Kennedy and Jaden Wagner, plus two-time letter winners Adrianna Grothouse, Alexis Metz, Reagan Priest and Ashlynn Dicke.

The returners include five seniors: Lauren Moore (CF/P, first team All-WBL and first team All-Northwest District, three letters); Grace Spoor (C/SS/2B, two letters); Paige Moonshower (P/1B, one letter); Alexandria Parks (2B/C/P, one letter), and Hannah Springer (1B/OF, one letter). The sixth returning letter winner is OF/3B/P Lorynn German, a junior.

“This will be a fairly inexperienced and younger team with decent athletic ability,” Steinecker said of the Lady Cougars. “With two seniors in the circle (Moonshower and Moore), we will be relying on their experience and abilities to help carry this team through the season.”

“They both gained valuable experience last year and I’m hoping that experience will benefit them this season,” Steinecker added.

Other players expected to contribute include seniors Hannah Binnion (3B/C) and Klareyse Sidle (SS/2B) and a group of six sophomores: C/SS/OF Carlee Young; P/SS/1B/OF Emilee Philips; SS/2B/OF Hope Blythe; 3B/OF Lauren McHugh; 2B/OF Alexa Gearhart and OF/2B Sydnee Savage.

“With several positions being open this season and having several newcomers waiting to get their chance to play on the varsity level, we will have to learn how to work with each other on the field and create a good team chemistry as we move into the potentially shortened season,” Steinecker explained. “The team will have to build upon each other’s abilities and experience as the season progresses.”

“One of the keys to this season will be finding the right mix of players to be successful on the varsity level,” the coach continued. “It will be important to get our less experienced players and our younger players as many reps as possible to help us be competitive as the season moves forward.”

If practices are able to resume, Steinecker and the Lady Cougars will continue piecing things together at the plate.

“Hitting is an area that we are working hard on to hopefully improve this season,” Steinecker said. “As far as our potential lineup goes, Van Wert should be pretty solid in the middle of our batting order. We are working on finding our 1-2 punch at the top and are working on rounding out bottom portion of the batting order.”

“In order to have a successful season, we will need to do all of the little things correctly each time we take the diamond,” Steinecker added. “We must improve offensively from last year and defensively we will have to limit the number of mistakes in games to avoid giving up those big innings.”

“As a team, we will need to be mentally tough to handle and hopefully overcome adversity. Our pitchers will need to approach each game one inning at a time and work hard each inning in order to keep us in the game and give us an opportunity at the end to be successful.”

As far as a potential Western Buckeye League title chase, Steinecker said Defiance, Bath, Shawnee and Wapakoneta are the top contenders.

“We want to position ourselves to be in every game in order to give us an opportunity to win and potentially to have the ability to reach five or six wins in a strong, competitive WBL.” Steinecker said.