The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Saline softball sets their sights high
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 5, 2007
The Saline varsity softball team hasn't set any goals this year.
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At the outset of a new season, the players are thinking bigger than that.
They're thinking in terms of "mission."
"We're looking at it that every day we're on a mission," said coach Dawn Whitford. "It isn't somewhere we want to be, it's somewhere we want to get."
The Hornets are marching toward nothing short of SEC and district championships.
Last year, which was Whitford's first as Saline coach, the Hornets ended the regular season looking up at a .500 record, going 14-17, though they strung together three wins in the waning days of the year and seized a postseason victory in the first round of districts before falling 2-0 to Monroe Jefferson in the finals.
A full 10 of the players who experienced the rush of postseason competition last season have returned this year. Whitford expects their experience and hunger to drive the team on its mission.
"It's good to have the experience of having success at that level," she said.
The Hornets boast six seniors compared to last year's two, including captains Megan Townsend and Alicia McCormick, as well as Kelsey Smith, Juliet Dawson, Julie Grech and Jessica Zaucha.
The junior corps is made up of Lisa Brophy, Alissa Robison, Katy Black, Katie Chapman, Jamie Gauthier, Amanda Laurent and Sarah Cowen.
Two freshmen join the sophomoreless varsity squad, Kayla Brophy and Emily Ouellette.
The Brophy sisters will share pitching duties. Last year as a sophomore behind senior Petra Jones, Lisa Brophy went 6-8 with a 4.18 ERA in 78 innings. She gave up 84 hits, 63 runs, and 50 walks, striking out 73.
The Hornets' strengths, according to their coach, center on chemistry and speed.
"We know how to play together," said Whitford, who took the players on a weekend team-building exercise at Mattawan Pretty Lake Adventure Center to explore team characteristics such as trust, communication and responsibility.
"I understand the importance of competing and winning," said Whitford, "but ultimately I want (the players) to look back and remember it as fun."
Whitford believes the Hornet lineup consists of good contact hitters, some power hitters and good speed. All of which should mean more runs.
"The big thing this year is being aggressive at the plate and getting runners on before we have two outs," Whitford said. "That was a problem last year."
She expects to have a good sense of where the Hornets are at right around May 10. That's the day Saline wraps up a four-game stretch against opponents such as Monroe Jefferson, Bedford, Chelsea and Adrian. Three of the games are on the road.
"It's a string of good, tough teams," she said. "It will be a good indicator of where we stand."
And what the next step of the mission should be.
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
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