Chilly Beginning

Softball Insider: MISD Softball Teams Hold First Full Practices Of 2008 Season

Chilly winds and frigid temperatures didn’t keep the 2008 season from starting as McKinney softball teams held their first practices on Monday.

Though new McKinney North coach Dan Sedgwick couldn’t come to practice because he had the flu, the Lady Bulldogs tried to stay warm and stay focused.

“It’s definitely cold outside,” senior outfielder Amanda Parsonage said. “Our season usually starts out in the cold, but it’s hard to get back into the swing of things. We’re doing the best we can. I’m excited for softball season to start. We’ll have a good year.”

It was especially exciting for junior Kathy Shelton, who was cleared to practice last Wednesday from her broken finger injury.

Monday morning was Shelton’s first full practice of the season, and it was the earliest she has ever practiced with the North softball team, since she is usually in the middle of basketball this season. Shelton, who committed to play softball for Baylor in late October, made the decision not to play basketball after volleyball season ended.

“You kind of hope for a better day to start your first practice, but we’re excited anyway even though the weather is awful,” said Shelton, North’s all-state shortstop. “It’s the start of your season, so you’re always going to be excited about it.”

North, which reached the state semifinals last season, is confident in its team as almost every position will be filled by starters from last year. However, the Lady Bulldogs will still be learning from a new coach and losing an all-state pitcher, Kristen Adkins.

“When you lose that, [people] are like, `They are down the drain,’” Shelton said of losing Adkins. “But that’s not necessarily true because as long as you back your pitcher up, no matter who it is, with our style of defense, you’ll be fine. I think we have a lot of potential, but it’s just taking all our talent and putting it together.”

Sedgwick loves having so much talent to work with this season. For the last few months, he has been working on fundamentals and evaluating how to effectively utilize his talent. He also said he doesn’t plan to change too much as the season progresses.

“I told them it would be crazy for me to come in and make wholesale changes to a team that lost two starters and went to the state tournament,” Sedgwick said. “We’re not going to change things up dramatically. I’m not going to throw a kink in the plan.”

But North’s new coach will be integrating his philosophies and already has high expectations going into the 2008 season.

“The biggest pressure I feel is from myself,” he said. “I believe with all my heart that this team can do as well as last year’s team, and it raises a lot of eyebrows because they had such strong pitching last year. And they did. This team is loaded. If the pitching doesn’t turn to be as well as I’m hoping, than we’ve got the offense and the defense to make up for it. I’m excited.”

MHS Focused On Defense

Defense. Defense. Defense.

That’s what McKinney High softball coach Jeremy Greenway will be focusing on in the next few weeks, just like in Monday’s first full practice.

“We’re going to hammer defense like crazy for the first five days. We think offensively, we’ll get the job done. But we know that defense is what is going to carry us far,” Greenway said. “We’re going to hit the ground running. Most of the girls that are going to play for us have been with us all year, so we know where their skills are at.”

McKinney, which went 3-11 last season in district, will have most of its starters returning and have a year of experience after depending on quite a few freshmen last season.

“We work on offense a lot on our own,” said sophomore Ashley Thomas, who will be McKinney’s returning shortstop and left-handed hitter. “Once we work a little more on our defense, we’ll be solid.”

Greenway, who is in his second year at MHS, has crafted more focused practices with his team this season, and the Lionettes have a lot higher expectations and goals this year. Ask any of them their goal and don’t be surprised if they say “DC ‘08”, which stands for district champions in 2008.

“I think we need to believe in ourselves. That’s the only obstacle that could bring us down,” said sophomore third baseman Gina Guajardo. “I think we need to have the mindset that we can beat anyone.”

Adversity Will Be Boyd’s Best Weapon

McKinney Boyd is back this season with a new attitude.

After having a rough 1-13 district record, the Lady Broncos are using that frustration to turn some heads in 2008.

“We feel like we have a year under our belts, and we’re a lot tougher because we had to go through a lot of things,” said junior catcher Christie Rogers. “We feel like whatever shows up, we’ll able to get through it and conquer it because of last year. We’re ready to go out there and show people that we’re a brand new team than last year. We’re a lot better and want to surprise people.”

Boyd coach Stephanie Pels, formerly Stephanie Freeman, had no seniors or juniors last season, and this year’s mixture of a few juniors, mostly sophomores and some new freshmen could be an exciting formula this season.

“We have some talented freshmen that came up that have great skills, and when you put the maturity with their skills, it’s a great combination,” Pels said. “The younger girls have been playing select ball a lot more. Their skills have enhanced our level of play. Last year I didn’t have anyone pushing them.”

Instead of mostly learning throughout last season, the Lady Broncos will be ready to use their experience to better compete in its district this season.

Staff writer Angie Wallace covers softball for McKinneyNews.net.