Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Goodshield’s offense sparks Mounties’ success
ROGERS — Another year with Rogers’ baseball team has made a world of difference for Noah Goodshield, particularly at the plate.
He struggled with his hitting last year, and his .200 batting average caused him to be placed at the bottom of the Mounties’ hitting order. It’s a much different story this spring as Goodshield sports a .326 batting average heading into the Class 6A State Tournament at Springdale.
“I just listened to coach (Matt) Melson and changed my approach this year,” Goodshield said. “Last year, I don’t think my approach was the best. I worked on it a lot during the offseason and it helped.
“I expected the improvement, and we really don’t focus on that type of stuff. We focus more on quality atbats, and that will take care of itself.”
That kind of improvement has allowed Goodshield to be moved to the leadoff spot and become an offensive catalyst for Rogers, which finished the regular season with a 24-5 mark overall and won the 6A-West Conference title with a 13-1 mark. He has hit four doubles and two triples, stolen 22 bases and scored 32 runs in 29 games for the defending state champion heading into Friday’s quarterfinal game.
It’s a far cry from what Melson saw from Goodshield as a freshman, when he struggled with just running the basepaths.
“He’s a kid where, if you had nine of him on your team, you would win every game,” Melson said. “All the cliches you can think of — first one here, last one to leave, works harder than any kid we’ve had — fit him. What we got out of him on offense has been amazing because we’re scoring an average of 3 more runs per game this year.
“He just quietly goes about his business. He doesn’t speak very much, but he leads by example. He’s a kid that everybody else, you can see they admire what he does and wants to be like him.”
Goodshield, who will play next season at Labette (Kan.) Community College, has at least one hit in 22 of Rogers’ 29 games this season. His two best games were against Springdale and Bentonville, where he had three hits and drove in three runs.
He attributes much of his success to his ability to what Melson refers to as “staying green.”
“It’s just not getting mad,” Goodshield said. “In baseball, when you get mad you’re not going to play as well as when you’re green. There were certain hits this year where I’ve said ‘Wow, I couldn’t have done that last year.’ And there were pitches on the outside part of the plate that I’ve hit that I wouldn’t have hit last year.”
Meanwhile, he has continued to provide solid defense at shortstop, where he’s committed just five errors and helped turn 12 double plays. Melson said Goodshield’s defensive prowess comes heavily into play when it’s Haywood Braxton’s turn to pitch.
When the right- hander hasn’t recorded strikeouts, many opposing hitters have their at-bat end with a ground ball headed toward Goodshield and eventually become an out at first.
“What we got out of Noah has been a real blessing,” Melson said. “We average seven ground balls to Noah every time Braxton pitches, and it’s like ‘hit it to that guy.’
“He hadn’t made a ton of spectacular plays just because his feet and hands are so good. He gets to balls that other people are diving for, what stands out about Noah is he’s able to make the tough outs look routine. His footwork is so good.”