Lady Tigers softball shows promising future

OK, where do I start? School-record 14 wins, two tournament sweeps, getting out of the first round at district for the first time. This year's Nevada High School softball team has a lot to brag about.

I've had the pleasure of watching a lot of high quality athletes in various sports since I was kid, but it's been a long time since I've seen a team that had as much talent throughout the entire roster as the 2009 Lady Tigers. Most of the time, there are one or two key players that can be pointed out as the major contributors on a given team, but I've really struggled to find that with this particular group.

I do think it's safe to say, however, that this year's freshman and sophomore classes are the heart of this team. With half of the lineup on any given day featuring freshmen and sophomores, the kind of success and talent I've seen is pretty astonishing.

The 2008 season was my first year covering the Lady Tigers and I can still remember a few players that I was very impressed with, to say the least. There were a number of freshmen playing last year that showed a lot of promising, albeit slightly under-developed, talent.

Tiffani Long was one of those players last year who absolutely floored me with her level of talent. She was a multi-sport athlete and everything she did, she did well.

This year, she picked up right where she left off, only better. As the Lady Tigers' starting shortstop, she's been a consistently solid fielder as well as one of the best bats in the lineup, finishing with a batting average pushing .375.

Olivia Culbertson was another notable name out of last year's freshman class. She was a player last year whom I could tell had a lot of talent, but simply needed a little more development.

She has shown the ability to play a couple of different positions, including pitching in relief last season, and her hitting this year has substantially improved. Leading the team in home runs this season, she's certainly a rare breed of hitter at the high school level.

I've seen guys playing for the Griffons who didn't have that kind of bat speed!

In talking about the young talent this year's team showcased, I'd certainly be remiss to not mention Christian Novak. Another member of this year's highly talented freshman class, she recorded a staggering 82 strikeouts in her first 64 innings of work this season, including six in a four-hit, two-run complete game in her first appearance of the year against the most potent offense the Lady Tigers faced all season long, district runner-up McDonald County.

I've heard a number of people talk about how she's too skinny/small to be able to maintain the level of performance she's shown thus far, but I don't really put much stock in that. As many softball fans will, I seem to remember another pitcher who was told nearly the same thing throughout her high school career, but went on to become one of the best to ever play the game.

Jennie Finch may be 6 feet tall, but she was never really much more than skin and bones as a high school student. That's not to say that Christian will go on to join the U.S. Olympic softball team at the age of 17, but you can't necessarily say that just because a person might be small, they can't have talent.

Another pitcher that gave the Lady Tigers a substantial boost throughout the year has been senior Rachel Kennedy. In every outing I saw from her this year, she seemed to have a real knack for keeping hitters off balance, getting stronger as her outings got longer.

She battled a nagging hamstring injury throughout most, if not all, of the season, but was still able to put on a number of very strong performances in the pitching circle. Among those strong performances was a dominant performance at home against the Lady Bears of Butler on Sept. 15, in which she pitched a no-hit shutout.

She went 3-for-3 at the plate in that game as well, finishing with three RBIs -- second only to Mary Ann Kennon's four -- which was a nearly typical offensive performance. Day in and day out, Rachel represented a major portion of both the offense and the defense, playing a major part in several of the Lady Tigers' 14 wins.

Those are just a few of the many talented names that appear on this season's Lady Tigers softball roster. Freshmen Mackenzie Pritchett and Tori Dahmer, sophomore Nikki O'Bryan, junior Jessica Neely and seniors Mary Ann Kennon and Andi Alexander have also played very pivotal roles in the success of the 2009 Lady Tigers.

As a team, the Lady Tigers showed dominant performances on their way to sweeping both tournaments they played in this season, outscoring the opposition 18-6 in Reeds Spring, Mo., and 32-1 in El Dorado Springs, Mo. The success they enjoyed in those two tournaments was made even sweeter by the fact that the program had never won a single tournament before this year.

The 2009 season was indisputably the best in the history of the Nevada High School softball program, but based on what I saw throughout the year, this may be just the beginning of a number of equally successful seasons to come. I don't think anyone who followed this year's team would say it was anything but a really fun year to watch and I honestly feel privileged to have gotten the opportunity to cover it.