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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Butler Softball 2008: Lofty Goals
Greater Louisville, KY
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By: Paul Najjar
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Photo(s) By: Mike DeZarn
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With one state tournament trophy in the case for 2008, the girls of Butler aim for another.
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“If we play as a team, always come focused to play and have fun while we do it, then we will be successful.” –Brittney Campbell
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the year,” she said. In order to do that though, she will need some of her young team members to grow up and grow up fast.
Last year’s team featured seven seniors in prominent roles. Replacing that type of experience is never easy. “It’s been a lot harder to keep the girls on task and focused so far this year,” says Campbell. “But with all of the bad weather, we’ve only had three days of practice on the field and I’m sure that our focus will improve with game experience.”
They’ve been conditioning since early January, practicing since February 15 and the coach has been anxious to see some of her young players step up and deliver. But one player she may have to lean on, junior pitcher April Wright, will have to wait a few more weeks to join the team. Wright won’t be cleared to play until April 11 due to a broken finger.
How important was Wright to last year’s team? “She was 22-5 with a 0.66 ERA and she had 187 strikeouts. April was very good at hitting her spots and keeping hitters off balance,” Campbell says, “We’ll miss her early in the year, but we have two Sophomores–Tori Ziegler and Jerilyn Meeks–to pick up the slack until she returns.”
Coach Campbell will be looking for juniors Megan Sutherland (3rd base) and Jessie Thompson (2nd base) to provide much of the leadership on this year’s team. “Offensively, we lost our top two hitters so these girls will have bring more production to the team than they have in the past,” says Campbell. The coach also pointed out that sophomore shortstop Wendy Vincent is a big piece of the puzzle around which the team is built. “Wendy can do it all: field her position, hit for average (.375 last year), steal bases (27 steals) and lead by example,” says Campbell.
New faces in the starting lineup include Jordan Nolley (1st base), Kelsey Hicks (OF) and Sammy Fisher (OF), but that doesn’t seem to phase coach Campbell. “If we play as a team, always come focused to play and have fun while we do it, then we will be successful.”
And then there’s freshman catcher Megan Cureton. Cureton just joined the team after being an important player off the bench for the state champion Butler girls’ basketball team.
Girls’ basketball coach Eddy Wilson says Cureton worked hard for the basketball team. “She played quite a bit during the season and really stepped up in the last few games of the state tournament. She’s head and shoulders above most freshmen as far as her talent is concerned.”
Campbell will rely on Cureton to keep back-up pitchers Ziegler and Meeks calm and focused until April Wright can return to the mound. Campbell says of Cureton: “Megan is a two-sport athlete with experience from last year’s team and the basketball state championship. She’s a good athlete and understands the game.”
So the talent and the desire are in place for Butler to make another run at the Region 6 championship. The big question for them this year is can they follow in the footsteps of their girls’ basketball team by bringing home the state title?
SIDEBAR>Roster
Number Player Grade Position
1 Jordan Nolley 10 1st
2 Jerilyn Meeks 10 Pitcher/3rd
3 Demi Willman 10 Outfield
4 Emily Drees 10 2nd
5 Megan Cureton 9 Catcher
8 Samantha Fisher 11 Outfield
11 Katie Benz 11 Outfield
12 Courtney McGinty 11 Catcher/1st
17 Megan Sutherland 11 3rd
21 Brittany Simpson 12 Outfield
22 April Wright 11 Pitcher
24 Jessica Thompson 11 2nd
26 Tori Ziegler 10 Pitcher/IF/OF
32 Wendy Vincent 10 Shortstop
33 Krista Adams 9 Outfield
35 Kelsey Hicks 9 Infield/Outfield
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