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Sunday, June 1, 2008
These 'Cats Have Bite
St. Paul, MN
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By: Tom Carothers, VYPE High School Sports Magazine
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Wildcat Country has come alive with the sounds of cracking bats as the Eagan softball team has roared to life this season as one of the top tea
ms in the state.
“It’s been a really successful season,” pitcher Sara Moulton said. “Our offense has been unbelievable and our defense has been unstoppable.”
Eagan cruised to a 15-1 regular season record this spring, outscoring its opponents 91-7. While Moulton is quick to credit her teammates, the sophomore hurler must take some of the credit herself — a fact not lost on third baseman Kaylyn Korth.
“We have one of the best pitchers in the state,” Korth said. “Having Sara on our team makes it much easier to win.”
Moulton, in her second season as the Wildcats’ starter, went 14-1 toeing the rubber, with 168 strikeouts and a miniscule .289 earned run average. This comes after going 17-3 as a freshman.
In fact, Eagan did not give up a single run through its first seven games of the season and amassed a total of 12 shutouts in all.
“Offensively and defensively, we have been doing a real good job all around,” outfielder Kelly Wood said.
Wood has absolutely terrorized opposing pitchers for the past two months. The sophomore blossomed into one of the most feared hitters in the Wildcats lineup with a team-high five home runs— second best in the state — and 13 runs batted in to go with her .432 batting average and otherworldly .955 slugging percentage.
She’s not alone when it comes to an uncanny ability to mistreat a large yellow ball, however. Eagan features five players batting over. 400 and another three more that average a hit once every three trips to the plate.
“We have so many girls who can play well,” coach Courtney Dully said. “These girls really know how to play.” Dully is in her third season at the varsity helm and the Wildcats have improved every season under her guidance. Eagan was 14-9 in 2006 and 18-7 in 2007, before tallying this year’s nearly unblemished mark.
For Korth, a senior third baseman who was a part of all of those .500-plus squads, it all comes down to leadership and cohesion. “Our coaching staff is one of the best around, they’re really great,” she said. “Plus, we all get along so well. I’ve been playing with a lot of these girls since the 12-under team — we’re best friends.”
Up and down the bench, around the horn and in the battery, Eagan’s chemistry — built on the diamond and off — is evident. While the Wildcats are a mixed bag of every class at the high school (six seniors, one junior, three sophomores, four freshman), the squad plays as seamlessly as a squad of seasoned veterans.
“We’ve all meshed well together,” senior catcher/shortstop Desiree Smith said.
And like a well-experienced unit, the team is not above falling back on an age-old adage…
“We still have to take it one game at a time,” Smith said. It’s a sentiment not lost on any number of Wildcat players and one echoed before each game.
“We all have the same goal,” Moulton said, striking a chord with just about any high school athlete in saying, “we want to win a state title.”
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