Fall Sports Preview: Bluejay Softball

JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northeast Nodaway softball: front from left; Baylie Busby, Sasha Deardorff. Makenzie Pride, Lindsey Jackson, Hadley DeFreece; back; coach Payton Beason, Sadie Hall, Brianna Meyer, Aubrey Fetters, Blair Nelson, Bristol Hicks, Hayley Yost, Mylee Wilmes and coach Abbie Groomer.

The impact that the current senior class made at Northeast Nodaway was immediate and impressive four years ago. They inherited a team what was fresh off of a 1-15 season and an 0-15 season.

As freshmen, the group that basketball coach Sheldon Saxton affectionately referred to then as his “Baby Bluejays,” went 16-7. They have gone 40-23 over the past three years.

“It is exciting,” senior Lindsey Jackson said. “It is also kinda sad because it is the last year.”

Now, those Baby Bluejays are now among the most experienced teams in the state and go into the season with as high of expectations as they’ve had in a long time.

“I think the girls are hungry,” coach Payton Beason said. “They’ve had some postseason endings that were a little heartbreaking, but I think that they are ready to roll. I think it is going to be a fun season.”

The senior core is five players with Hadley DeFreece, Jackson, Baylie Busby, Sasha Deardorff and Makenzie Pride.

“We’ve been together since, like what, seventh grade,” Busby said. “At the end, it is going to be a little tough to let go. I love all of them.”

“It is really exciting,” Pride said. “It is kinda sad that it is our last year.”

DeFreece and Jackson have been the team’s top two pitchers the past three years and should be the leaders in that category again as seniors.

“You can’t ask for much more,” Beason said. “Especially not just being a Class 1 school, but a small Class 1 school — to have such strong pitchers to rely on.”

DeFreece threw 85 1/3 innings last year with a 1.81 earned run averaged, 106 strikeouts and 18 walks. She spends her summers playing club softball and is ready for her final year in a Bluejay uniform.

“I’m pretty excited,” DeFreece said of the emotions going into her final year as a Bluejay. “It is going to be tough at the end, but I think that we are going to have fun this year.”

Jackson took more of the workload off DeFreece than in previous seasons and pitched 47 innings. She finished with a 2.68 ERA, 37 strikeouts and 23 walks.

“I think we are kinda a power team,” Jackson said of the 1-2 punch with her and DeFreece. “When one of us can’t do it, then the other one can.”

When Jackson isn’t pitching, she will likely find herself patrolling center field.

“I’m pretty excited to be with all my friends and play with all the girls that I’ve played with since I was little,” Jackson said. “We’ve got new freshmen coming in, which is awesome because I’ve been friends with them also throughout my high school career. It should be a good year.”

Both players will benefit from the return of one of the state’s top catchers after Busby missed all but five games last season with a broken leg. In her five games back at the end of the season, she managed to hit .400. As a sophomore, she hit .397 with 10 extra-base hits.

“It feels good (to be back),” Busby said. “This summer, I played a little bit of travel softball to get back in the groove and I am really excited for this year because I think that we will be really solid.

“I think that we will have a good offense. We have some power hitters and some people who will get on base and some people who will steal, so I am excited about that.”

Busby is also a coach on the field for Beason in their third season together.

“It is good offensively and defensively,” Beason said. “You couldn’t ask for someone better at a Class 1 school. That was a big loss for us when she broke her leg last year. It is good to have her back and even at practices this year, it is nice to have her stepping up.

“She can kinda reads my mind before I say it. Before I have to tell them, she is already on it.”

Busby’s versatility also helps as she has shown in the past that she can play any position on the diamond defensively. With sophomore Hayley Yost returning after playing catcher with Busby out last year, that versatility could be utilized more this season. Yost hit .242 last season.

The big hole that the Bluejays will be looking to fill on the infield is shortstop where Jill Boswell has graduated. When DeFreece isn’t pitching, she likely factors into that spot. She hit .344 last season with four doubles, three triples and 13 stolen bases.

When DeFreece is pitching, sophomore Blair Nelson is likely to see most of the time there with Busby being a possibility for some innings as well. Nelson played mostly the outfield and first base as a freshman and saw her bat improve as the season went — finishing with a .274 batting average.

“We’ve been throwing people in and out there all summer trying to figure out what to do,” Beason said. “(Boswell) was a leader and not only a leader, but played a good role. She hit No. 3 so we have to fill that role and we’ve been messing around with the batting order. The communication that she did on the field are big shoes to fill. … They are competing real well with each other to fill that spot so it is good competition.”

Pride has developed into one of the team’s most reliable bats with a .304 batting average last season. The first baseman had four doubles.

“I’m really excited,” Pride said. “I feel like we can probably make it to state if all of us seniors and the whole team come together and push through it.”

Across the diamond at third base, sophomore Brianna Meyer was an instant starter for the Jays as a freshman. She hit .262 last season and had two of the team’s three home runs.

Junior Mylee Wilmes held down the second base spot last season — hitting .283. Jackson played in the outfield when she wasn’t pitching and also hit .283.

Deardorff filled another of the outfield spots and hit .265.

“Slapping and drag bunting,” Deardorff said of what she is working on improving this year.

The Bluejays open the season on Tuesday at home against Stewartsville/Osborn.

“It feels like we aren’t even seniors and we are just little freshmen again,” Deardorff said of her senior class. “It means family, friends. I’m definitely going to miss them.”