Cedarville College
Yellow Jackets
1998 Women's Softball
Season Outlook
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| Becky Summers (left) |
It could shape up to be an interesting season in Lady Jacket softball for 1998. Head coach Dave Gaffner begins year number two at the helm with only ten players on the roster, five of which are freshmen, and he'll be missing one of the program's best all-around players who graduated. That leaves a lengthy list of questions to be answered.
"We have some players who can hit, but the key to our success will be defense and pitching," explained Gaffner. "I don't like to put pressure on our young players, but with a thin roster they'll have to help us."
Gone is four-year standout Erika Miller, who graduated as the program's all-time leading hitter with a .373 career batting average. She took no less than 12 total school records with her including the top defensive mark of 427 career assists as an All-Mid-Ohio Conference third baseman.
"I'm not sure that you can replace a player like Erika," Gaffner said. "She was a vacuum at third base and her hitting numbers speak for themselves. However, some of our veteran players will have to pick it up to carry the load."
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| Bonnie Schaefer |
Pitching is critical, especially in fast-pitch softball, and that responsibility will hang with junior righthander Bonnie Schaefer (Winston-Salem, NC) and rookie lefthander Angela Fraley (Kettering, OH). Schaefer was 5-8 last year with a 5.20 earned run average while Fraley had a successful career at Fairmont High School.
The top returning hitter is junior outfielder Noella Fisher (Buellton, CA), who hit .360 in 20 games. Sophomore infielder Becky Summers (Bainbridge, PA) started all 31 games in which she played as a rookie and batted .300.
Andrea Butz (LaRue, OH), one of two seniors on the squad, is a three-year letter winner at first base and hit .263 last spring. Julie Schaefer (Winston-Salem, NC), the other senior, was an NCCAA All-America Scholar-Athlete in 1998 as a catcher.
The Lady Jackets will face the usual demanding Mid-Ohio Conference schedule which includes perennial NAIA power Shawnee State, the league's six-time defending champions. Cedarville will open the campaign at the difficult University of Mobile Invitational in Alabama that features three of the top NAIA teams in the country. The host Rams are preseason ranked No. 4 and are joined by No. 6 Houston Baptist TX and No. 11 Southeastern Oklahoma.
