MT. PLEASANT OFF TO SOLID START IN 2022
Oilers averaging over 10 runs per game
Putting a softball team together likens to putting a puzzle together.
You need athleticism and speed at the top of the order followed by some big boppers in the middle of it before tapering down and hopefully turning it around with more speed in the nine spot.
Defensively, the ideal is to be sound up the middle at catcher, shortstop, second and centerfield first and foremost and fill it out from there.
Through the first month of the 2022 season Mt. Pleasant head coach John Davis has been mixing and matching and searching for the right combination or combinations and he’s close to having it figured out.
Coming into Saturday’s four-team ‘Oiler Invite’ the Oilers have been hot, winning four-straight games. Moreover, they also beat a ranked Anchor Bay team recently by the final of 6-2, thus they’re playing well right now.
“The kids are coming around and we’re starting to find our chemistry,” said Davis of his 2022 team, a team that is 9-6 through its first 15 games. “I think we’ve scored around 60 runs in our last four games.”
Offensively the Oilers are very good as they average over 10 runs per game thus far. In short they can mash.
Senior Carly Dole leads the hit parade as she’s hitting an eye-popping .585 for the season. Dole has also belted three home runs and has an astounding eight triples in 15 games while driving in 15. Freshman phenom Finley Helm is also having a breakthrough campaign as she’s hitting .465 with two homers and 20 RBIS. For the season the Oilers have belted 10 homers too.
The big question going into the season was how would the pitching staff do? To date the answer is ‘just fine, thanks.’ In the circle the Oilers don’t have any
real gassers, hard-throwers that just throw the fastball past people. Thus, they rely on finesse and on hitting locations and the defense behind.
“Our pitchers have been doing a nice job of keeping hitters off-balance,” said Davis, who led the Oilers to a record of 18-22 last season.
Junior Ryann Zurawski has been exceptional thus far as she sports a record of 5-4. In 55 innings of work she’s struck out 51 and walked only 13. Freshman Chloe Parker has also pitched beyond her years as she’s 4-2.
“They both have great change-ups,” Davis added.
Going forward the Oilers have a big week of league games coming up as they travel to Bay City Western Monday and Bay City Central Thursday.