CSC softball gets up to bat
Chadron State softball team returns to the batter’s box to starting its season and to play ball.
This season, the Eagles are currently scheduled for 52 games, 22 of which will be played at the CSC Softball Field.
“I think just the fact that we’re so blessed to still be able to play and still do the things that we love,” Kaley Ness, head softball coach, said. “It’s been nice to see a little bit of normalcy to fall back in place and just be able to have the opportunity back out on the field, getting an extra tournament that we didn’t get to have last year and just being able to compete.”
In 2020, CSC’s softball team was unable to see the field at all due to COVID-19 and last year, they held an overall record of 13-27 and a conference record of 13-23.
The 2022 team consists of 27 players with 13 returners, 11 freshman and three transfers, compared to last year’s roster of 18.
“I am happy to see a lot of my teammates return this year and we are looking forward to playing another season,” Samantha Conradie, sophomore of Thornton, Colorado, said.
With a number of other returners, Conradie will put the catcher gear back on after having 79 putouts, nine assists and a fielding percentage of .946 last year.
Sloane Quijas, redshirt sophomore of Erie, Colorado, and Bailey Steinke, senior of Lakewood, Colorado, both were the only two players that started and played all 40 games of the 2021 season.
Quijas fielded 35 putouts and 67 assists, to attain a fielding percentage of .919. She had 17 runs, 34 hits, three doubles, three home runs and a team-high 24 RBIs of her 126 at-bat appearances.
Appearing 138 times to the plate, Steinke batted 34 runs, 55 hits, 20 RBIs, and was 19 of 23 for stealing bases. She had a .972 fielding percentage at shortstop with 64 putouts and 109 assists.
CSC welcomes Gabby Russell, senior of Oceanside, California, and Peyton Propp, senior of Lakewood, Colorado, back to the mound. Russell pitched in 27 games, starting eight of them. She pitched a shutout game and had the team-best walks and hits per inning pitches (WHIP) of 1.87.
Propp saw the most starts of Eagle pitchers with 19. She allowed only 93 hits, 13 home runs and a .260 opposing batting average of the 28 total games she pitched.
With a number of new faces, competition remains high in practice which Ness believes will help the team compete in games.
“Whether they’re freshman or they’re a transfer student, I think it’s always going to be an adjustment for them,” she said. “Overall, they’ve adjusted really well, and we anticipate big things from quite a few of the new players.”
CSC begins its season at the Lubbock Sports College Invitational, the first game is scheduled for 11 a.m., Friday against West Texas A&M University in Lubbock, Texas. The team will also play Lubbock Christian University, University of Nebraska-Kearney, Eastern New Mexico University and Northwestern Oklahoma State University throughout the weekend.
Ness hopes to see some consistency from the team anythime they step onto the field for a game.
“If we’re playing a team that had a winning record last year, winning record up until they play us, or a losing record, just being consistent and playing the best of our abilities regardless of who we step out on the field against,” she said.