These Dawgs Will Hunt

With two outs and runners on the corners during his first scrimmage as head coach of the reigning 4A Region II champions, Dan Sedgwick truly saw the player he had only heard so much about for the first time.

“This team is trying to steal second,” he remembered. “Kathy Shelton comes across and takes the throw. It’s a bang-bang play. She tags the girl, but doesn’t even pay attention to whether the umpire is going to call her out or not. Immediately she spins around and throws a rope right here at home plate, and that girl was out by two steps.

“That’s in here,” Sedgwick added, pointing at his noggin. “That’s the kind of thinking that’s rare at this level. It’s rare at the college level.”

Witnessing the budding talents of Shelton, McKinney North’s junior shortstop, was something that excited Sedgwick ever since his move from Franklin, which he took to the postseason during both of his seasons as head coach.

Sedgwick’s former team was ousted in the area round in 2007, a disappointing finish after what he called a “phenomenal” upset bi-district victory. His new team, however, powered past the area round, through the region and came within two wins of a first-ever state championship.

Many looked at the Lady Bulldogs, then under the leadership of North’s only previous coach Debbie Evans, as a contender for a deep playoff run, but a handful of earlier third-round playoff exits prevented North from reaching the next level – until last year.

Kristen Adkins, now playing for the University of Florida, was a staple of the team, recording a record number of wins with her uncanny pitching ability and a team-best in home runs. But Adkins, her sister Haley, and a few others are now gone, and a handful of new faces accompany a corps of seasoned veterans, the continued expectation of greatness and … a No. 1 ranking?

At least, that’s what some polls say. North finds itself seventh in the highly-regarded Texas Girls Coaches Association preseason top-10.

“We were in a booster club meeting, and they told us there,” said Shelton, North’s 2007 team leader in stolen bases, .340 hitter, best defender and Aall-State honoree. “We were all kind of like, ‘oh, really?’ But it’s kind of a cool thing. Hopefully we can keep it that way.”

Shelton, who has committed to Baylor, knows that will be tough, especially now that her team no longer finds itself in the role of the underdog, a role it so relished during the program’s best season. But the head coach believes that with his junior shortstop at the helm, this year’s roster is capable of great things.

“We have the potential to do what the ranking says. I’m not going to say we’re going to do that, but this team has potential to play incredible ball,” Sedgwick said, knowing full well that most coaches go an entire career without being part of a top-ranked team while he now has without having coached them in a game. “They play so well together and they get along so well, there is no tension. It’s a pleasure to coach them.”

Shelton, selected as a co-captain alongside Louisiana Tech-bound right fielder Amanda Parsonage by her teammates, says the transition from Evans to Sedgwick has gone smoothly.

“She kind of got into a routine and knew us as players, but we’re at a point where [Sedgwick] doesn’t know a lot about us, and we don’t know how he likes to coach,” Shelton said. “It’s just about everyone being open-minded and being able to change.”

Despite the positive impact Shelton and Sedgwick have already and will continue to have on the Lady Bulldogs, there are a handful of questions surrounding one of 4A’s best teams.

Chief among them is just how they will replace Adkins. Senior Lindsay Collings and senior Ashliegh McLean, a North Central Texas College signee, will attempt to fill that void, and will be used by Sedgwick in a tandem role “until one of them emerges.”

Freshman Haley Wagner has emerged as a potential outfield stalwart, and is the lone underclassman on a team comprised of mostly juniors and seniors.

Among North’s other returnees are catcher Amy Kilpatrick, who spent the majority of last season out with an injury, second baseman Lindsey Post and first baseman Meghan Knowles.

Answers surrounding North’s two-pronged pitching attack might not come until the start of District 9-4A play, but the coach believes he has the bats to compete right out of the gate.

Sedgwick hasn’t tried to change the aura surrounding one of the region’s most consistent programs, though. He’s an easy-going leader that credits much of the smooth coaching transition to returning assistant Laura Brent, and preaches fundamentals and small-ball, two of the many aspects of the game at which Shelton excels.

“I didn’t really know just how good she was until I got up here. She definitely has got the gift for softball,” he said. “I don’t want to put any pressure on her to say that she has to perform at that level. I just want to let her perform at the level, and then we can all benefit.

“That’s the kind of player she is.”