Learning to lift each other up

The Nevada Lady Tiger softball team spent a night locked in the Nevada YMCA to work on team building exercises. With only one senior on the squad -- Mallori Adams (center) -- the 2005 Lady Tigers will have to rely heavily on team chemistry and the leadership of juniors Afton Baldwin (front, left), Audrey Wallace (back, left), Tiffany Cartwright (back, right) and Erica Klinksick (front, right).

When you only have one senior on a high school athletic team, it becomes easy to question where the leadership will come from.

As far as the Nevada Lady Tiger softball team is concerned, that question has been answered.

With only second baseman Mallori Adams able to lay claim to the title of senior, the Lady Tigers will be relying on a group of juniors to help lead the program.

Audrey Wallace, Erica Klinksick, Tiffany Cartwright and Afton Baldwin have all paid their dues with the varsity program and are now taking leadership roles.

Fellow juniors Brittany Pettibon and Blaine Gibbs are also there to help take the load off Adams' shoulders.

Nevada head coach Brandi Thomsen said the loss of five seniors in 2004 won't hurt as bad as one might expect.

"I think we're good," she said. "We'll miss those girls, but we've had players step up that can fill those (leadership) positions."

Thomsen praised the work ethic of the team and to help with team chemistry, organized a one-night stay at the Nevada YMCA where the athletes were brought together as a team.

"We had a lot of team-building exercises and challenges," Thomsen said. "We were just really working on solving problems together."

The players said the coach's ploy worked.

"It was good for us to get to know the freshman," Cartwright said. "We had to become really close."

"We got to play tons of games," Klinksick said.

Thomsen wants the team to be a close unit, to help them solve problems on the field.

"The big thing for me is you can have a ton of talent and not be so good if they won't play together. You can have a few talented kids mixed with some hard workers that work together that can be more solid."

Thomsen wasn't concerned about not having many seniors.

"We're lacking seniors, we're not lacking leadership," she said. "Our senior has done a great job and some of our juniors have stepped up. They all have different strengths when it comes to leadership. They all continue to do the things necessary for the younger kids to get better and to make themselves better."

Adams has not felt over-burdened with the leadership duties.

"I have a lot of help from the juniors," Adams said. "They help me out, being leaders."

For a team looking for the first winning softball season in school history, working together will be the biggest step.