The Chico softball team ends playoff drought with veteran help and young talent
By Robert Morgan | Published Thursday, May 7, 2009
There has not been a lot of playoff talk in Chico the last few years as the athletic department has struggled to keep pace in a competitive field. The biggest problem has been that the high school's enrollment has dropped significantly and will likely drop to Class 1A when the University Interscholastic League realigns next February.
However, the softball team has not let dwindling numbers affect its game. In fact, the Lady Dragons put together the county's longest winning streak of the season to qualify for the Class 2A state playoffs next week.
Ironically, the softball team was the most recent from Chico to advance to the state playoffs when it rode the talented arm of pitcher Wendy Rhone on its way to the area championship game in 2006.
The Lady Dragons are back this year, and they are winning for many reasons. They have just four seniors in Rachel McKinley, Jessica Coffman, Stephanie Stephens and Delani Long, but they are one of the most talented quartets in the county as they have started the last three years.
"Those seniors are very, very good," said CHS coach Mike May. "They are not only great defenders on the field, but they are also very good leaders on a team that is very young."
Coffman and McKinley have started all four years of high school and seen the good and the bad along the way. The duo will end their high school career the way it started - in the playoffs.
"It feels really great getting to the playoffs," McKinley said. "We work all year to get ready for sports and having other towns think we aren't good enough or aren't even worthy of playing, it really gets tiring, so being where we are now is a great feeling."
Getting back to the playoffs has been a work in progress over the last three years. The team had a great shot at advancing last season before a run of bad luck crushed all hope.
Coffman, who has pitched the last three years for Chico, was hit in the head on a line drive against Paradise. She was rushed to the hospital but miraculously suffered just severe bruising and some swelling.
The talented pitcher returned just in time to lead the Lady Dragons to a 3-0 start in district play. However, she struggled to get back into her dominating ways as her fear of getting hit again affected her pitching.
May now prefers his pitchers wear a face mask while pitching, but even that was not enough for Coffman to put the injury behind her.
"Jessica was never the same after that, and who could blame her," May said. "That was the worst injury I have ever seen on the softball field, and we are lucky it was not a whole lot worse than what it was. She was lucky."
Just a few weeks later, Stephens' sister Jennifer was killed in an accident just outside of Bridgeport, which affected several members of the team with whom she shared a close bond.
The Lady Dragons suffered their first of many losses on the field as they slipped out of first place and into the middle of the pack. Three starters were injured in the second half of the season, and Long had a season-ending knee surgery that crippled the lineup the rest of the season.
May, who had just three players suited up in the position they played at the start of the season, watched his team lose its last 11 games of the season after a perfect start.
The Lady Dragons took a different approach this season as their struggles came early rather than at the end. That was expected since five freshman were added to the lineup, including standout pitcher Malori Moss.
Moss started to pick up steam as district play approached until a shoulder injury forced May to pull her from the circle. May moved his freshman to first base and had to move Coffman back to the middle of the diamond.
"I know it was something Jess was not looking forward to, but we needed her to pitch," May said. "It only took a couple games and Jessica was back. She does not get a lot of strikeouts, but she also does not walk people and that has been very big for us."
Coffman is happy doing whatever it takes to make her team the best it can be.
"Oh my, I'm gonna have to wear that horrible mask," said Coffman, when she learned that she was taking over pitching duties. "I'm always gonna have a fear of getting hit again, but I've gotten better."
Better might be an understatement as she helped turn things around when it mattered the most. Chico was 3-4 in district play and was one loss away from missing the playoffs again. May told his group that it needed to go on a long win streak or it would be another long offseason.
"I think it's awesome that Jessica is so brave and has stepped back up to the mound for us," Long said. "She has such a love for the game, but it might not love her back after what happened to her."
The Lady Dragons responded with their longest winning streak in four years as they came out on top six straight games. The biggest win during that stretch was an 11-1 victory over Alvord, which avenged an earlier 6-1 loss to the Bulldogs.
The first step in putting together the playoff run was the defense, which previously struggled. May altered the defense a little by moving four-year starter McKinley from second base to third base.
"You can't replace Rachel on the field because she is so good, but with third base such a critical spot on the field, we decided putting her there was in the best interest of the team," May said. "We had to shore up the left side of the field because that's where people are going to hit the ball against Jessica, so we tightened things up there with all my seniors."
May moved Stephens to shortstop and plugged Long in at left field, to form one of the stingiest defenses in the county.
The icing on the cake in qualifying for the playoffs was the turn-around on offense. Chico stranded 19 base runners in its first four losses in district play and were held to less than five runs each time.
The Lady Dragons caught fire in the second half of district play thanks to the hitting of the entire batting order where they outscored opponents 75-12.
"We had no trouble getting girls on base in the first half of district, but getting them home was another thing," May said. "In the second half we strung the hits together all over the line up. Our seniors were hitting, and Rachel has the highest batting average, but we were also getting consistent hitting from young girls like Kaci Walker, Shanna Fathree, Hannah Avants, Shelby Collins, Tabitha Moses, Molli Umphress and Malori Moss."
Long said she knows that the younger players look up to the seniors, but the feeling is mutual.
"I'm really gonna miss all those younger girls after this is all over and all of the goofing around with Hannah," Long said. "They might look up to me, but they don't know that I look up to them just as much."
