File photos by Kevin Nagle and Rick Nation
The Bryant Lady Hornets softball team opens the 2014 season with a scrimmage game against the Sylvan Hills Lady Bears on Thursday with a benefit fish fry starting at 5:30 p.m. The official opener will be Tuesday, March 4, against the Conway Lady Wampus Cats.
Katy Stillman (Photo by Rick Nation)
The team includes seniors Kaley Coppock, Brianna Forsyth, Tori Hernandez, Kayla Jolley, Breanna Sanders and Katy Stillman; juniors Nikki Clay, Mercedes Dillard, Sydney Gogus, Jerrica Gray, Cayla McDowell, Makayla Nguyen, Abby Staton, Alex Taylor and Jordan Williams; sophomores Kerrigan Allen, Skylar Harper, Anna Beth Heath, Sierra Jones, Miranda Mayfield, Shayla McKissock, Megan Medford, Anna Turpin and Julie Ward; and freshmen Taylor Crawley, Peyton Cy, Alex Dillard, Macey Jaramillo, Presli Pendergrass, Morgan Self, Shelby Stuckey and Mallory Theel.
Many of those players got valuable varsity experience last season when the Lady Hornets finished 13-13 overall and 8-6 in the South Conference, so there’s been considerable competition in the pre-season.
Kayla Jolley (Photo by Rick Nation)
“The biggest factor is where am I going to put Katy Stillman,” said Lady Hornets coach Debbie Clark of her four-year starter. “If she catches then it’s going to change the line-up. If she plays third, it’s going to change and if she plays in the outfield, it’s going to change. She’s kind of the hub. She’ll go anywhere I tell her to except the other team’s dugout.
“Right now, we’ve been using her at third base and I’ve got Julie Ward catching,” the coach said. “(Ward) has matured so much. I’m so proud of her. She was definitely that green freshman last year but I saw so much potential in her. But I say to people all the time, I can’t reward potential. But she has grown. She’s taken over and she runs that defense out there. I’m very pleased. She’s also got a great bat. If she keeps progressing, we’re going to see some great things out of her.”
Regarding the other infield starters, Clark began with another four-year starter. “Kaley Coppock is strong there at first for us,” she asserted. “Shayla is looking really good at second. She’s gotten stronger. Bre Sanders is at shortstop.”
In right field, the team’s top pitchers, Jolley and Williams, will alternate. Jolley has signed a scholarship offer with Ouachita Baptist University.
“They both came back in great shape too,” said Clark. “I’m really proud. They’ve looked really good in practice and their bats are strong.
“I like our pitching,” she added. “I think Kayla and Jordan have come back ready. Jordan’s really looked good in practice and Kayla wants to lead the team. She’s done a good job with that.
Kaley Coppock (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
“In centerfield, we’ve had a huge surprise and that’s Tori Hernandez, who moved in from Texas,” the coach related. “She has never played outfield but she is that bright star, the move-in that you dream about. If they’re not going to be a pitcher, you want them to be Tori Hernandez. I talked to her and told her I knew she played third base in Texas and you do a good job there but I need you . . . and she said yes, ma’am. We just have to teach a few pointers. She knows the game. She knows where she should throw the ball every time. She’s so fast and the girls love having her out there. They have so much confidence in her.
“What’s great about Tori too is she has no history with anybody,” the coach mentioned. “When we step up to play Benton, she’s going to go, ‘Benton who?’ If we play Sheridan, she’s going, ‘Sheridan who?’ And that’s good. That’s a really, really good thing. It was the same for me when I came here. I understood rivalries and she does too but she’s just going to play. She’s a senior and she’s had a lot of changes in her life but she’s handling it so well. She’s teaching those freshmen a valuable lesson.”
Shayla McKissock (Photo by Kevin Nagle)
Hernandez signed a scholarship offer from Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pa.
Clark said that one of the primary battles for playing time is in left field.
“We’re looking at Brianna Forsythe, Nikki Clay and Mercedes Dillard, and they’re all fast, fast and fast,” she related. “Honestly, what’s going to keep them in the lineup is in the batter’s box.”
She also mentioned a few others “Alex Taylor, Sierra Jones, who’s out with an injury. Skylar Harper has looked good in practice. Miranda Mayfield is a sophomore, a lefty, and she’s looked good hitting for us.
“We’ve got a good crop of freshman including an exciting lefty pitcher Shelby Stuckey. She has a great change-up and what’s great is her fastball and change motions are just the same. So you don’t know when it’s coming.”
To this point Stuckey has been hampered by a sore hip, however.
Jordan Williams (photo by Kevin Nagle)
“Our defense is above average but we’re going to make errors,” Clark stated. “You just do. It’s a hurry-up-and-wait sport and there are so many chances to make an error.
“I want our strength to be our hitting and that’s been what I’ve been trying to work on all summer,” she added. “If we can get our offense going then we’re going to have a chance to win. We’ve got to get them to third base. That’s more important in softball than in baseball. In baseball, if you get a runner to second, a base hit’s probably going to score them; the field is so big. We’ve got to get them to third base.
“I read Coach Bock’s article (on BryantDaily.com) and he said they were using a charting system (to measure quality at-bats),” Clark said referring to Bryant baseball coach Kirk Bock. “What’s incredible about that, we’re using the same one. I met the man who developed it through Twitter this summer. He asked me to write on his blog so I did and he sent me his book, signed it and it’s incredible.
“I’ve always preached to the girls and to their parents that batting average, there’s a place for it but it’s history,” she explained. “You can’t do anything about that. And it doesn’t take into account how many pitches you’ve had those pitchers throw, and did you move our runner from second to third, and did you put the sac bunt down, or did you strike out but make the pitcher throw 15 pitches? If so, you know that’s a quality at-bat. And those are the kinds of things that we want to know. Now we have a way to chart it. And, like for those three in left field, it’s opened up some areas for some people to get some looks. It also makes some other people step up their game.
Lady Hornets head coach Debbie Clark (Photo by Rick Nation)
“Defense, it’s out there and everybody sees it. A ball goes through somebody’s legs, somebody drops a ball — it makes you just want to go pull them out but there’s more to it than that. What have you done for the team at bat?”
In summary, the coach said, “I really like the team. They work hard for us. Physical fitness, condition-wise, they’re in better shape than any team I’ve had in a long time. Since January, we have been running a mile twice a week. They’ve been working out with (Fitness and agility guru) J.J. Meadors twice a week.
“And I do that not to just say, oh, we ran a mile, but we’ve got to break through some mental barriers,” she emphasized. “I’ve seen some really good things in their conditioning and I know that’s made them mentally stronger.
“Now comes the hard part, putting it on the field and getting them to work together as a unit, trying to get past last year’s season, trying not to look back, driving without looking in the rearview mirror. You can take a glance but — it was a hard season last year and we don’t want that to happen again.
“I think we’re going to have a really good year,” she stated. “I don’t know when it will peak. I hope it’s at the end of the year. And some things in our lives take time.”
