Flattening out the learning curve

For Cheney High softball head coach Gary Blake, the biggest question he faces as he enters his 12th year with the Lady Blackhawks might be this: when will he get to see the full team he envisions.

Injuries and medical issues have kept several players from getting into varsity competition, including two of the Lady Blackhawks three leading hitters from the 2015 campaign that ended with a 19-3 record and one win short of state. In fact when Cheney switched home dates with Clarkston and traveled south last Wednesday to take on the Bantams, they took just six varsity players augmented by five junior varsity players.

“And we managed to win,” Blake said of Cheney’s 11-8 victory.

When the Lady Blackhawks are at full strength, they will be a young, athletic group with a strong upside. Five of the 12 varsity members are freshmen, with four more sophomores.

The only senior is Courtney Johnstone, who starts defensively at first base. Sophomore Kara Johnstone is at second with freshman Mercedes Mitzimberg also seeing innings there.

Sophomore Macie Despino is at third while two-year starter and 2015’s leading hitter, Rachel Barsness, will be at shortstop once she has enough practices, which Blake said will be soon. The junior was a first-team All-Great Northern League pick in 2015, leading the team in batting (.614), hits (54) and doubles (11).

Blake said the main battery would feature freshman Cheyanne Gleave on the mound and fellow freshman Shelby Melton behind the plate. Sophomore Madison Kallsen, 2015’s second leading hitter at .541 and also first-team All-GNL, should be back soon but because of knee issues likely won’t return at catcher. Instead, she will see time on the mound and at third.

Sophomore Meghan Krantz moves to centerfield from first base. Blake said he wants her’s and Courtney Johnstone’s bats in the lineup at the same time.

Krantz was third in hitting last year at .508, and led the team in home runs (7) and triples (3). So far in five games, she’s equaled her triples total and has smacked a pair of round-trippers.

“Krantz has some experience out there (centerfield) and she’s a steadying influence for the younger players,” Blake said.

Junior Catrina Sneddon returns and will play left while freshmen Alyson Dassow and Courtney Hanson will do a little platoon work in right.

At the plate, the Lady Blackhawks lineup is something of a work in progress. Right now, Kara Johnstone hits leadoff, followed by Gleave, Barsness (once healthy) Krantz and Courtney Johnstone.

“Then, I’m going to have to think where I’m going from there,” Blake said.

So far the Lady Blackhawks have lived up to what they are, a young team without a lot of varsity experience but a team with potential. After opening their first week with an 11-6 loss at Northeast A Medical Lake and a 20-3 rout of 2A Prosser, Cheney followed that last week with the Clarkston win and a 14-9 loss to Lakeland, committing five errors, and a 9-4 loss at Pullman.

Krantz was 4 for 4 at Clarkston with a pair of doubles, a single and a 3-run home run. Gleave led Cheney with a pair of singles at Pullman while Courtney Johnstone was 3 for 5 against Lakeland, with Kara Johnstone 2 for 4 and Krantz 2 for 5 including a solo home run in the seventh.

Gleave went 1-2 on the mound as Cheney moved to 1-1 in league play and 2-3 overall.

It will be a big learning curve for Cheney, at least at first. They may not yet be the team like last year’s that won its first ever GNL regular season and District 7 titles, but as the weather warms and the innings pile up, Blake thinks they’ll develop well.

“There are days when we play pretty good and days when we look like we don’t know what we’re doing,” he said. “We get a few more games under our belt, get some mistakes taken care of, and we’ll be a pretty solid team.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.