PHEBA — Don”t count out the Hebron Christian fast-pitch softball team this season.
Granted, the Lady Eagles lost seven seniors (five starters) en route to finishing as the runner-up in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class A North State tournament and third in the overall state tournament.
The graduation losses include two All-State selections and six-year starters — shortstop Magen Tapley and third baseman Cathryn Moore — and five others who helped build a tradition for excellence at the school.
But coach Cass Tapley feels his team has the potential to reload rather than rebuild. His optimism stems from the fact he returns seniors Beverly Blake and Tori Nichols, junior pitcher Chloe Tapley, The Dispatch”s Private School Fast-Pitch Softball Player of the Year in 2010, and sophomore catcher Alaina Hill.
While the rest of the team will be younger and less experienced, Tapley feels his defense will be just as solid as last season. He admits the Lady Eagles may have to do things differently to manufacture runs, but he is eager to see his team in action today against Magnolia Heights (noon) and Kirk Academy (1:30 p.m.) at the season-opening Magnolia Heights tournament.
“I have been trying to preach to everybody about how young we are, but I think it is falling on deaf ears,” Tapley said. “We”re just going to enjoy the game this year. I say that facetiously sometimes, but we”re not going to be bad. We”re going to be OK. Nobody is going to blow us out, and we”re not going to blow anybody else out. We”re going to play some small ball and use some smoke and mirrors.”
Coming off an undefeated district season that secured the team”s second crown in three years, Tapley isn”t allowing the players to use youth as excuse. He said he expects Hebron Christian to win another district title in part because the program has a solid foundation built on commitment, leadership, and toughness.
Tapley said last season”s postseason run, which included a first victory against Bayou Academy in the North State tournament, and a first trip to the overall state tournament tested the players” resolve and they passed each test. He feels the returning players who took that journey learned from it and will be ready to carry on for the players who graduated.
Nichols hit .390 last season and will play first base this year, while Blake, who will play in the infield and in the outfield, also hit better than .300.
In the circle, Chloe Tapley is one of the state”s top all-around players. She led the team with a .437 batting average and went 24-8 with 293 strikeouts. She also had 10 shutouts, five no-hitters, and two 18-strikeout games in the playoffs.
Hill is a two-year starter who hit better than .300. Coach Tapley feels Hill matured into a better receiver and thrower in the offseason tanks to her work in the offseason with former Mississippi State All-America catcher Chelsea Bramlett and the games she played with the Houston All-Stars 16-and-under Dizzy Dean team that won the World Series last weekend in Southaven. He expects Hill to work well with Chloe and sees no reason to expect a similar performance from both players this season.
“I think they”re there to win every game, period,” coach Tapley said of his daughter and Hill. “I don”t think this year it is more important for them to think they have to do more than they did last year. I tell Chloe I count on you to strike out 10 or 15 a game, and I am going to count on that again this year.”
Expectations like that don”t bother Nichols or Blake, who are excited about their chance to step into bigger leadership roles, even if all of the players will have targets on the back.
“We did it last year and we can do it this year,” Nichols said. “We know we can do it this year (based on how the team did last season). Not having the seniors hurts a little bit, but I think the younger players will learn quick. Just by sitting in the dugout with us, they saw how we do it and how we expect it.”
Said Blake, “It is going to be a lot different, but we can handle it. We set the bar pretty high last year, so we have a lot to live up to. It is not going to be handed to us. We have a huge target on our backs. That is always in my mind that everybody is going to be after us. We already had a target, but it has gotten bigger since last year.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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