Carroll takes over Mustangs softball

DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
The 2015 North Nodaway softball roster includes: front row, from left: Emily Dew, MaKayla Cross, Alisha Davison, Bailey Tate, Brea Coulter, Taylor Combs. Second: Audrey Trimble, Kelsi Oberhauser, Breann O’Riley, Emma Hart, Keagan O’Riley. Back: Kristin Herndon, Bethany Herndon, Madison Thompson, Ashley Thompson, Chloe Schimming.

It’s a new sport, it’s a new school, but it’s the same David Carroll.

After spending a handful of years running Nodaway-Holt’s girls’ basketball program, Carroll is now the skipper for North Nodaway’s softball team, taking over a squad that went 5-11 last season.

Key returners from last year’s roster include senior pitcher Breann O’Riley, junior first baseman Madison Thompson, junior catcher Kelsi Oberhauser, junior second baseman Bethany Herndon and sophomore shortstop Alisha Davison. Thompson clubbed a .500 average to go with 16 RBI, coupled with O’Riley’s .386 average and 12 RBI.

Also helping this season’s version of the Mustangs is what Carroll described as an “outstanding group of freshmen.”

However, North Nodaway will have to replace third baseman Sam Frueh, whose presence in the heart of the order provided a .405 average and 20 runs scored.

Carroll believes the Platte Valley Conference will consist of Jefferson at the top with “the rest of us trying to catch them.”

Heading into the first game of the year, a 5 p.m. first pitch Aug. 27 against Worth County in Hopkins, Carroll jokingly believes the Mustangs have only one major obstacle.

“If the girls can overcome the age of the head coach, we should do OK,” he said.