Fall '06 Prep Preview/Marshall Softball/New Lady Owls begin adventure on diamond

Members of the inaugural Marshall softball team are (bottom row, from left) Heather Malan, Chastity Mays, Breinne Clemens, Whitney Baldridge, Jessica Scott, Madison Cochran, Ali Brumit, (second row) assistant coach Rachael Lowe, Leslie Stark, Krista Anderson, Desiree Desnoyers, Laura Harvey, Tara Bartel, Demi Sprigg, Whitney Tuck, Stephanie McGowan, head coach Kelly Hollmann, (third row) Megan Hunt, Crystal Lozano, Amber Rodgers, Tamika Chess, Xavi Sanchez, Lorena Reyes, Kelley Sanders, Chelcy Gladhill, (top row) assistant Mollie Keith, Chandra Crawford, Jessica Harriman, Chasity Roe, Marti Coldiron, KaeLeigh Brown, Kerissa Jacobs, Melissa Bublitz, Angela Hensley, assistant Dave Meyer and (not pictured) Alicia Gross. [Click to enlarge]

It's hard to imagine any coach being more anxious for the season to begin than Marshall softball field boss Kelly Hollmann.

It's not that Hollmann wouldn't appreciate more time to practice, but she also wants to see where the Lady Owls stand as they begin their first season. After all, the past few weeks have been a constant learning process, for both coaches and players.

"You walk in and you don't know the girls' knowledge," Hollmann observed. "You have to take tiny steps to get to the big picture. I have to go over everything."

While Marshall has no experience or tradition on the softball diamond, Hollmann has noticed that a few of the players aren't starting from scratch.

"They've played some, but I don't know how long they've played," she said. "A lot of the older girls played in the summer and know what's going on."

At least Hollmann has already found some leadership in the senior class, saying that she "couldn't have asked for a better group of six girls." That should translate into success, if not in the won-loss record, then at least in having a team which plays with energy and enthusiasm.

The top priority, of course, is to develop pitching -- and Hollmann sees potential in junior Xavi Sanchez, who "has improved 100 percent even from the first day of camp," and freshman Krista Anderson.

"Pitching is something you've got to do year-round, every day," said Hollmann, who comes out a Westran program which has produced NCAA Division I pitchers during the long tenure of coach Kelly Odneal. "If you have a girl who can throw strikes, she doesn't have to be fast -- but then you have to have a good defense."

Defense has been an emphasis, since that is an element of the game which players can master more quickly than pitching or hitting.

"Defense is constant repetition," Hollmann asserted. "It has to be something they have to do without thinking."

The personnel will change as the season progresses, but there are some spots which seem solid: senior Chelsea Gladhill, a transfer from Bevier, at catcher, senior Breinne Clemens in center field and freshman KaeLeigh Brown in right.

First base is a wide-open battle between junior Chastity Mays, sophomore Jessica Harriman and freshman Leslie Stark. Seniors Crystal Lozano and Kelley Sanders are vying for second base, with junior Megan Hunt and freshman Tara Bartel at shortstop and senior Whitney Tuck and sophomore Alicia Gross -- who moved from Slater -- at third.

Left field is "completely up in the air," according to Hollmann, as is much of the batting order -- although Clemens, Gladhill and Sanders appear to be table-setters and Tuck and Brown may be asked to drive them in.

"We had to start all over with hitting," Hollmann said. "The biggest thing is getting them used to the speed we see."

Still, "hitting is something that's going to take more than two or three weeks" to develop, Hollmann admitted.

It's difficult to imagine an infant program being competitive in the NCMC, which was so evenly-balanced last year that four of the five teams finished with records of .500 or better -- Hannibal winning the crown by one game over Kirksville and Fulton reaching the MSHSAA Class 3 playoffs.

"I want to walk on the field and hang with them," Hollmann declared. "We want to be able to walk off the field and have the other teams say, 'Wow! They're a first-year program?'"