Quantcast
skip navigation

Recent Great River News

North Central Minnesota roundup

By Staff Reports 04/19/2011, 9:48am CDT

Boser’s bat not enough for Pierz

Talent returns to Dragons Softball team for 2011 Season

By Ashley Sauter 04/13/2011, 7:33am CDT

The Dragons return 4 GRC All Conference players and last years GRC MVP for the 2011 softball season

Pine City Pioneer(4-13-11)

Coach Jacob Sauter is entering his third year as head coach for the Pine City varsity softball team, and his sixth year being involved in the program.

Last season, the softball team had an overall record of 12-8 which Sauter briefly explained: “We had a good season last year. We tied for the best record in the Great River conference at 9-2, but we didn’t win the conference because Isle beat us head to head and ended up with one more point according to the point system we use. We earned the third seed in our section and lost a tough game in the first round to Foley 3-2.”

Last season Sauter lost four seniors, but has a talented group of girls returning to the field. The returning pitcher this year is senior captain Lindsey LeClair, who earned All Conference last season.

“Lindsey will be taking the mound for her fourth season and we expect great things from her on the mound and at the plate,” said Sauter. Returning as a senior and captain is catcher Kayla Pavelka, who also earned All Conference last season.

“Kayla was unanimously voted the MVP of our conference last year by the conference coaches,” said Sauter. “She works as hard as anyone and always has a great attitude.”

Senior captain Haley Schmidt returns as an infield player who earned All Conference Honorable Mention last season. Three-year starter Shauna Jahnz returns as a senior and center fielder and senior Kylie Harer returns as an infielder. “Haley, Shauna and Kylie are all tremendous athletes and also have great work ethic,” said Sauter. He also commented on his juniors who join the seniors on the varsity roster, “They are very focused and have worked hard so far this season to earn their places on the varsity lineup.” Juniors this year are: first baseman Gretchen Linzmeier who was also named All Conference last season, infielder and pitcher Rachel Sparling, outfielders Brittanie Pearson, Melissa Allen, Elizabeth Anderson and infielder Jasmine Dyksman. One freshman working to earn playing time is Emily Koecher.

Sauter believes their biggest strengths for this year are work ethic and natural athletic ability. “We have been practicing for a month indoors and it is very easy to get bored and frustrated with playing an outdoor game in a tiny gym. But these girls have kept a positive attitude and worked hard every day. It has been a lot of fun to coach this group so far, and I can’t wait to start playing games,” said Sauter.

Sauter also has quite a competitive outlook for this season, “I think we have a great opportunity to win a conference championship this year and get a high seed for section play. Isle has quite a few of their starters returning from last year, as does Hinckley, so we are going to have to be sharp and play solid defense to make that happen.”

Something else Sauter is looking forward to is the new pitching distance that will be installed by the MSHSL this season. “The mound has been moved back three feet, so I think we are going to see higher scoring games, and as a coach it is going to be a lot of fun to use our speed on the bases,” he said. “I think this is going to change the game in a lot of ways, and it is going to be fun to try different things as the season unfolds”.

 

Sauter is also ready to take on Grantsburg, a program he respects.

“They are a model of what a softball program should be, and they compete for the Wisconsin state championship nearly every year,” said Sauter. “They play the game the right way, and Coach Bjelland does a fantastic job getting his girls ready to play softball,” said Sauter.

Due to the new pitching distance this year, Sauter knows that improvements in defense are especially important. He believes that in his six years involved in the program, he has not seen a more athletic team overall than his team this year.

Sauter has an experienced group of assistant coaches to help out this year. Assistant coaches for this season are; Jena Greig, Terry Mikulich, Chris Jahnz and Rhiannon Sauter. The team’s first game is set for Tuesday April 12, at home. if the field is available and weather permitting. Coach Sauter also hopes that others will come to enjoy the team’s efforts, “I hope to see a lot of fans at our home games this season. We have a great group of girls this year and I think that our community will be very proud to have a group like this representing Pine City and Dragon athletics”.