At four-year schools, freshmen athletes aren’t thrown into a starting lineup a lot of times. They redshirt or play limited roles, but usually aren’t counted on to lead their teams to victories. This isn’t the case for two-year schools like North Idaho College, especially on this year’s softball team, in which, at times, seven out of the nine players on the field could be freshmen.
Head coach Don Don Williams welcomed in 15 freshmen and one transfer to this season’s club, but Williams said they know they need to step up right away.
“We have a lot of freshmen on the field this year competing and they’re going to contribute a lot in the lineup this year,” Williams said.
Williams said her freshmen-heavy team is adjusting well.
“It’s been a big learning curve for us, but they’ve really excelled and did well in the fall, and our practices the past few weeks have been going really well,” Williams said. “So we’re excited.”
NIC returns three players from last year’s team, which finished 23-35 and third at the Region 18 Tournament. Kylene Hatton, who played second base last season, will move out to left field, and Hunter Allen and Laura Potts will be back in the pitching circle.
Madison Anthony, from Vancouver, Wash., will start at third base.
“She’s going to be a key contributor for us this year offensively and defensively,” Williams said. “She’s a very dynamic player, strong player, so she’s going to have a great year for us.”
Allison Paladeni, who transferred from Lower Columbia College (Longview, Wash.), will anchor the infield at shortstop, and Marissa Tarin from Winchester, Calif., will replace Hatton at second base.
“Marissa Tarin at second base has some great defensive skills and she’s a lefty slapper with some speed on offense, so she’s going to contribute well,” Williams said.
Miranda Powless of Colton, Calif., will take over at first base and Jammie Madonna of Colville, Wash., will replace Shelby Carter at catcher. Carter broke the NIC career home run record last year as a sophomore.
“We’ve always had a rich tradition of having great catchers in our program and Jammie has definitely stepped up to fulfill that-big shoes,” Williams said. “She’s a great defensive catcher. Not a lot of runners are going to steal on us with her strong arm. She’s shown some good leadership behind the plate. Those freshmen are doing great, and there’s so many more. We have so many in the lineup.”
Even though the infielders are young, Williams expects an improved infield this season.
“I think we have a very strong infield,” Williams said. “I think last year we struggled in the infield, but we have a really strong infield that I think’s going to really help us.”
Williams also said the team has pitching depth, “which was very scarce last year.”
The offense should be diverse too.
“We have the long ball hitters. We have the slappers with the speed. We have the contact hitters. I think we’re going to be able to produce a lot of runs,” Williams said.
As for the Scenic West Athletic Conference, College of Southern Idaho opened at No. 9 in the Jan. 27 NJCAA rankings and Salt Lake Community College, which was the national runner-up last season, is 16th.
Williams said both CSI and Salt Lake “do a great job recruiting, and so there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ve reloaded and they’re ready to go.”
NIC opened up the season today in Las Vegas where they played Arizona Western, No. 18 Eastern Arizona College and No. 4 Pima Community College. It plays Phoenix College and No. 14 Gulf Coast State College tomorrow in Las Vegas also.
The Lady Cardinals will start SWAC play Feb. 7 and 8 against Salt Lake in St. George, Utah, and their first home games (weather permitting) will be a four-game set with Snow College Feb. 21 and 22.