Local schools turn toward young talents
Los Alamos loses 10 seniors; St. Michael’s without ace starter
Youth is taking over the softball scene in Northern New Mexico — at least in the pitching circle.
For the past few years, the names of Allie Berhost, Alex Russell and Madeline Lockhart dominated the pitching talk in the area. As the 2017 season begins in earnest this weekend and into next week, new faces and new names are at the forefront — and many of them are underclassmen.
At Santa Fe High, freshman Jelly Angel expected to be the ace for the Demonettes, while St. Michael’s sophomore Lindsey Glidewell has big shoes to fill with the graduation of Berhost. Capital has a pair of eighth-graders — Marley Cardenas and Alex Hernandez — who will join junior Arianna Almeida in taking up the pitching slack.
Lockhart was a stalwart in the pitching circle in Los Alamos, but her graduation opens the door for freshmen Savana Luster and Katie Wimer.
“There is some good, young talent,” said Billy Perdue, first-year head coach at St. Michael’s who is a veteran of the club scene. “These girls are very competitive, and they’re very eager. It’s exciting to see that fire is growing in the area.”
It’s also helpful for a young hurler to complement new coaches, such as the case with Perdue and Randy Burditt, who returns to coach the Lady Hilltoppers after a nine-year hiatus. In fact, the two programs share a lot in common.
Both lost a ton of seniors (10 for Los Alamos, eight at St. Michael’s), and it will be a mix of veterans with young players to fill the gaps that graduating seniors left behind.
If there is a silver lining, it’s that the pitching youth movement might help young hitters adjust better.
“When you lose 10 seniors, that means you have 10 junior varsity players coming up,” Burditt said. “So, this team is young, but they’re just going to work through it. We are all working through it.”
Perdue said he feels Glidewell’s summer ball experience in which she pitched about 20 games will
help her adjust to taking on the ace mantle for the Lady Horsemen. But he also wants to take some of the pressure off of her by using other pitchers as well.
“That’s something to work on,” Perdue said. “Hopefully, we have to have just one to build around. You’d like two or three, so that you have some depth. Because once you lose your stud, you’re back to square one.”
Capital head coach Sig Rivera likes the pitching depth he has in his second year with the Lady Jaguars.
Almeida is throwing harder than she did last year, while Hernandez and Cardenas also saw time in the pitching circle in the summer while coached by Perdue and his sister Franchesca Perdue.
Rivera mentioned the two eighth graders see pitching coach Kelsey Stevens — a pitching standout who started out at Albuquerque La Cueva and later pitched for the University of Oklahoma — at least twice a month in the offseason.
It gives Rivera hope that Capital can continue its improvement from a 4-21 record, which is the highest win total the program has had in the past eight years.
“We pretty much return all of our starters from last year,” Rivera said. “The only thing is teaching these girls not to get so down. It snowballed on us last year and we had to work harder from there. We’re trying to learn that when you make a mistake, learn from them and don’t give up.”