Young Patriots seeking tournament success

When Doug Arbuckle is asked about his 2011 squad, he immediately talks about youth. But, that’s nothing new.
For the second straight season, the Jay County High School softball team will have just one senior in its starting lineup.
The youthful 2010 Patriots struggled early, but played well in May and advanced to the sectional championship game. And Arbuckle said he hopes his team can make similar strides this season.
As the lone senior, Kendra Younger will try to lead the team toward those goals.
Younger is the returning leader in almost every offensive category after hitting .328 last season. The shortstop also had a .426 slugging percentage and drove in 16 runs.
“Kendra stepped up last year and had a good season,” said Arbuckle of the four-year letter winner and team captain, who will hit in the No. 3 or 4 spot. “She was voted all-conference. We expect great things out of her in the field and at the plate. … I’m hoping she can have a great year.”
Nikka Chaney, a junior who will play first base and pitch, struggled a bit at the plate in 2010, but drew a team-high nine walks. And she has shown great potential, having hit .476 with two doubles and a home run in her injury-shortened freshman season.
“With Kendra being a four-year letter winner, she’s been there,” said Arbuckle. “And Nikka is going to be a three-year letter winner this year. I think they step it up and show a great example as far as attitude, hustle and enthusiasm. It’s hard sometimes playing 28 games in about seven weeks to come out and stay enthused all the time, but those two in particular I think really do a great job of that.”
The other returning offensive leaders are sophomores, two of whom played in every game for the Patriots in 2010.
Lexie Gierhart, the center fielder, and Rachelle Jackson shared the team lead as they each scored 15 runs last season. And Taylor Franklin added a .278 batting average, second only to Younger among returning players, in 14 games a year ago.
“They were playing well for us at the end of last year,” said Arbuckle of the sophomore group. “We expect them to just continue right on and have a great year.”
During the 2010 season, Jackson (six wins) shared pitching duties with then-senior Brittney Watson. But by the end of the year she had taken control of the No. 1 spot, pitching for the Patriots in both sectional games.
Her effort was key to avenging a regular-season loss to Huntington North in the sectional semifinal game as she struck out six batters. Chaney, a spot starter last season, will also pitch for JCHS this year.
“Rachelle has all the pitches,” said Arbuckle. “She turned in an excellent game up there at the sectional to beat Huntington North.”
When they are not on the pitching rubber, Chaney and Jackson will play first and second base respectively. Freshman Katlin Petro will also see time at first, with juniors Randa Gillespie and Whitney Somers picking up playing time at second.
With Younger starting again at Shortstop, freshman Chelsea Tighe will fill out the infield at third base. Betsy Huffman, another freshman, will be the catcher with her classmate, Ashley Motter as the backup.
“We’re going to start out definitely this year with a lot of new faces,” said Arbuckle. “We’ve got five freshmen dressing for the varsity. There’s a good chance that ... they could be in the starting lineup or get a lot of playing time.”
Joining Gierhart and Franklin in the outfield will be juniors Cortney Myers, Gillespie and Somers, and freshmen Katie Aker and Petro.
“I feel like we have a lot of interchangeable parts here and we can get a lot of different contributions from these girls,” said Arbuckle. “I hope to get everybody participating and gelling together as a team. That’s what we’ve got to have to have a great season.”
Arbuckle had hoped for great things a year ago, but his young squad got off to a slow start. The Patriots lost 11 of their first 14 games.
However, JCHS turned the corner in May, winning six of its final eight regular season games. It made it to the sectional championship game before losing in the finale to Homestead for the third straight season.
Although he’d definitely like to have a better start this year, Arbuckle said his focus is to once again be prepared to contend in the sectional tournament.
“As far as wins … if we could get 15, 16 wins, I’d be very happy with that,” said Arbuckle, whose team finished 10-14 last season. “The main thing is I want to be competitive every game and see improvement each game as the season goes on.
“Hopefully, like we were last year, we’re playing our best ball at the end of the season. That’s our main goal.”[[In-content Ad]]