St. James softball returns everyone from a season ago

Angelique McNaughton, Special to the Dispatch

March 31, 2014

 

St. James Academy’s girls softball program is attempting to pick up where it left off after a somewhat difficult 2013.

“Last year was a rebuilding year for us and it was difficult not just because of that but because of the weather,” coach Kerri Elstun said. “We weren’t necessarily young, but we lost four girls and we didn’t even get all of our games in.

“But the girls definitely rose to the occasion,” Elstun said of her squad who went 6-8, after losing to Blue Valley West High in the regional game.

This season, the Thunder have everyone returning from the varsity squad, including some newcomers.

“I’ve also added a couple freshman to the mix which is obviously great for our team because we will have a little more depth this year,“ Elstun said.

The six seniors who will make up varsity this year are: Cidney Barrick, Caroline Lipp, Machaela Geither, Kaelin Walsh, Becca Sapp and Haley Bumgarner.

Lipp and Barrick are Elstun’s two seniors who have started all four years and will serve as team captains for the Lady Thunder.

Last season, Lipp, who signed to play with Rockhurst next year, hit over .600 and Elstun touts as a “very solid all around player.”

In the past, Lipp has been behind the plate and will more than likely continue to play catcher or shortstop.

“I’m really excited thinking about this as my last year playing at St. James and I want to give it my all with the girls so that we can make it to state hopefully again,” Lipp said. “This year, we have a really good turnout and I think we are going to be pretty decent. I’m just really excited to get the season started and to see what everyone can contribute to the team.”

Starting pitcher Barrick looks to have a huge impact this season both defensively and offensively, Elstun said. Freshman Katie Coens will back up Barrick on the mound.

“She’s been a pitcher for me for four years and can play other positions as well,” she said. “We’ve also seen a lot of power in her hitting.”

Barrick said with the addition of some underclassman, she is “really excited going into this year and for what’s hopefully to come.”

This will be Barrick’s final season not only with the Lady Thunder but with the sport in general, as the senior said she has opted not to pursue the sport post graduation.

“It’s definitely bittersweet,“ she said. “But I would love to go out with a bang and be like, ‘We took first in state my senior year‘.”

Starting shortstop and De Soto High-transfer Walsh looks to return her senior year after sitting out most of her junior season following a winter accident that left her with a broken leg. She played some third base for SJA, but will make more of an impact this season at shortstop.

For the second year in a row, Geither joins sisters and fellow starters Caroline and the Lady Thunder’s lone junior Gabby.

With so much versatility and experience, Elstun said she expects the team will be able to “pick up where we left off last year.”

“I don’t expect anything but progress,” she said. “We do have a tougher schedule this year but I made it like that because I want these girls to be ready for whatever 5A is going to throw at us.”

The Thunder’s season opens April 1 at Eudora and Elstun said as long as the weather cooperates in the next few weeks, her squad will be ready.

“I’m excited to watch these six seniors start their season and I’m anxious to see how they finish their tenure here,” Elstun said. “I mean, this season is about them and half my squad, most of them have been with me from the get go so I’m probably more emotional since I am already thinking of how I’m going to have to say goodbye to these girls who have really made an impact on me and this program.

“They are not they best softball players around but they are good players an they will work hard and they will succeed,” she said.

Mill Valley softball savors second-place state finish

By Angelique McNaughton

May 27, 2013

The Mill Valley softball team saw its season come to an end Saturday against Bishop Carroll Class 5A state softball championship game.

The 5-0 loss was reminiscent of a second-place state finish more than ten years ago for the Jaguars, while the Eagles captured their third consecutive title. The Jaguars (18-5-1) defeated Andover Central, 5-1, and Goddard, 5-2, to make it to the final game.

“I knew it was going to be a tough game going into it but we didn’t have errors … they just hit the ball,” Mill Valley softball coach Sarah Haub said. “The game is the game and there is nothing we could have done differently.”

Scoring a run early in the first inning, the Eagles took a lead the Jaguars were never able to offensively overcome.

“They were the best we’ve seen all year,“ Haub said. “They had the pitching, they had several great hitters on the team and they were just the whole package.”

Haub said her girls were never able to get their bats going against the Eagle’s Jessi Haffner, who didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning.

“When you don’t see those pitches in (the) regular season, then you don’t have the confidence built up and it’s hard to adjust to the speed and spin of the ball,” Haub said.

“It’s hard to come into a tournament and face it one time but our kids did the best they could do and we came up short.”

A few hours after the game, Haub said the dust had begun to settle and the second-place finish had set in. She said the team’s only goal for the tournament was to win the first game Thursday night, which it hadn’t done since 2001.

Senior shortstop Kelli Spring led the Jaguars during the first game against Andover High School Thursday at Wichita’s Two Rivers Youth Complex. Spring went 2-for-2 with a single in the second inning and a double in the fourth, while snagging seven balls hit to her at shortstop. Fellow senior Taylor Brunson started the Jaguars off with a clutch, squeeze bunt that scored Spring from third base and set the tone for the rest of the game.

Mill Valley pitcher Lexi Myers went the distance while only allowing one earned run on six hits and one walk. Lexi Myers was at the rubber again against Goddard High School and went another six innings on Friday, striking out three batters, while allowing two runs and one walk.

“It was a very intense game against Goddard,” Haub said. “The fans and the coaches were really getting into it.”

At the plate, Kaitlin Parker started a second inning rally that saw one run cross the plate on an RBI. Lexi Myers followed her lead, scoring on another RBI and Rienna Schriner scored on one in the fourth inning. Lacie Myers also had a triple to round out the afternoon at the plate for the Jaguars.

“We were really patient at the plate and we attacked the ball pretty well when the pitcher came at us,” Haub said. “We did a good job of making contact at the plate.”

Haub, who just completed her fifth season as the Jaguars’ head coach, said the girls “had a great season.”

“They were a great group of girls, who worked hard,” she said. “We meshed well this year and came into the tournament and had a good time.”

After losing four-year starting pitcher Jillian Jobe to graduation last spring, Haub said her team has displayed their heart and commitment at every turn this season.  The returning players will have an opportunity to show the same adversity next season with the loss of seniors Spring and Brunson.

“I think we are only going to be stronger,” Haub said. “We are going to have to fill two big positions and we have people who can potentially do that for us. I wouldn’t say it will be a rebuilding year filling in a short stop and a third baseman, but we are going to do the best we can do.”

Softball: St. James Academy junior well above average

By Angelique McNaughton

May 7, 2013

A diamond in the rough.

That’s how St. James Academy softball coach Kerri Elstun refers to junior Caroline Lipp.

“She’s got so much talent,” Elstun said. “She’s just softball savvy all the way around, offensively and defensively.”

Lipp is in her third season as a starter for the Thunder, and while she’s had a successful tenure, this year the right-handed catcher has really started to shine.

Through 35 at-bats, Lipp has maintained a .543 batting average, which includes two home runs and 16 RBIs. She has an on-base percentage of .543, and her batting average hovered around .750 through the first five games of the season.

Elstun said she had witnessed some high school girls hit north of .500 but when they hit .700 “you know you have a pretty good hitter.”

“She’s that kind of girl,” Elstun said. “She’s a clutch hitter, and she’s who you want up to bat. She’s getting stronger, and she’s just a hard worker. When you work that hard for a handful of years, … well, it already has been paying off for her.”

The 17-year-old junior grew up around the sport since her father, Jeff Lipp, played baseball at the collegiate level for Newman University in Wichita.

He coached his daughter from the age of 5 until she started playing competitive club softball in sixth grade.

“She’s hit quite well for many years and she has tended to hit in the middle of the lineup for every team she’s been on,” Jeff Lipp said. “Teams have found a place for her to play through her hitting, and she’s also sort of been a utility player in that she can do most anything, except pitch.”

Lipp has bounced back and forth between second base and catcher since she began starting for the Thunder her freshman year, the same year they took second at state.

The young starter played an integral role during the state tournament, which included hitting a crucial game-winning shot to lead the Thunder into the next phase of the tournament.

“The first game was a pretty tight game, and then the last inning the bases were loaded and I was up to bat,” Caroline Lipp recalled. “The score was 0-0 the whole the game, and there were all these juniors on base and I got a hit between short and third and we won the game. It was the best feeling in the whole world.”

That is how her career has played out: big hits and good feelings.

With a young team with no seniors, Lipp is one of six juniors leading the Thunder this year as the program attempts to rebuild after the loss of a star-studded roster.

Lipp has stepped up to the plate this season, predominantly playing catcher. In the only position that can see the entire field, she has taken and embraced that leadership role.

“We are kind of trying to rebuild our group together, and I think our season has been going pretty well,” Lipp said of her team, whose record sits at 3-6. “Coach (Elstun) has definitely tried to help us be leaders because we had a really good group of seniors last year and we needed to take the reins.”

Because of inclement weather, the Thunder have had four games canceled and five postponed, which has allowed the team to focus more on their hitting during the extra practices.

Throughout the year, Lipp said, she has focused on improving her swing and strength. Lipp plays and practices most of the year since she plays club ball outside of school.

“I think I’ve been doing pretty good,” Lipp said of her career. “Especially this year, I feel like my hitting has excelled a lot because I have worked almost all year on it.”

At press time, Lipp has hit eight doubles this season and hit her only two career home runs, which came back to back against Blue Valley North.

“They definitely have a very good team, and they have really good pitching,” Lipp said of Blue Valley North. “To see that I hit two home runs in a row, it was awesome and it was great.

The two home runs tied a St. James Academy school record for most home runs hit in a single game.

The Thunder’s number three hitter, Lipp is a self-described competitive person and said she loves the game for that reason.

She attributes the speed of the sport and the skills required of a player to the reason why she’s continued with it all these years and why she has her eye on playing at the next level.

“I think I’ve stuck with it because it kind of gets my mind off of things and softball has always been there for me when I needed it,” Lipp said. “It definitely means a lot in my life, and it’s year-round, so I’m with it all the time.”

As the regular season comes to a close this week with a doubleheader on Tuesday against Turner and again on Thursday against De Soto, Lipp said it has “been a different experience this year trying to rebuild”.

“But either way, I’ve really enjoyed my couple years of softball,” she said.