2008 Softball Outlook: Fresh Start
2/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 7, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Gay McNutt is a veteran college softball coach with 13 years of experience at two schools, five conference championships and four NCAA Championship appearances to her credit. After more than 700 games as a head coach, McNutt was sure of one thing when she took over at Stephen F. Austin last summer -- you never know what to expect with a new team.
As it turns out, the Ladyjacks were able to put their first-year head coach's anxieties to rest before the spring semester even started.
"For the first time, for me, coming into a new program, I feel very confident with the success that this team is going to be able to have," McNutt said. "That's all because of the way this team feels. They believe that we're going to win, that we're going to be successful. That leaves me with a very confident feeling, and that's a first for me, stepping into a new program."
While McNutt is all smiles when discussing her team's immediate future these days, no one could blame her for entering the job with a skeptic's reservations. She is a proven winner who once captured four straight conference championships -- one each in her final three years at Northwestern State and the fourth in her first season at Southern Mississippi -- and has won four conference tournament titles -- two at each school. But she was stepping into a situation at SFA that looked as much like a rebuilding project as any she'd ever seen.
The Ladyjacks have posted just five winning seasons since becoming an NCAA Division I program in 1988. Their last campaign that finished above .500 was in 2000, when the team went 26-20 overall and missed the Southland Conference Tournament with a seventh-place finish. The last time SFA reached the SLC Tournament was 1990, when the Ladyjacks finished fourth in the regular-season conference race and won the tournament title.
McNutt was looking to completely change the culture of the team she inherited. That team was coming off a 19-37 season that saw the Ladyjacks finish ninth in the SLC, and McNutt was their third coach in four seasons. She decided that the metamorphosis had to start with mentality.
"The biggest battle we came up against was convincing them in a total change of philosophy," the coach said. "Any time you change coaches, you've got to come in and convince your new players that you know what you're doing. Getting them to buy into the system was the first thing we had to overcome, and that took some doing, but, before long, they bought in.
"The next thing we faced was getting them to play as a team, re-emphasizing that this is a team sport. We win together, we lose together -- everything we do, we do it together."
With that corner turned, McNutt began a grueling regiment of off-season conditioning and skills practice that hammered the fundamental points of softball.
"They came in extremely out of shape," McNutt said. "Conditioning was a battle at first, but they overcame that and saw that they can do some things they'd never been pushed to do before.
"Then we had to break down the basics for them and really concentrate on fundamentals. That's something in which I firmly believe. When the game's on the line, fundamentals are going to play a big role in whether you win or lose.
"When you bring in three new coaches, you really have to concentrate on every aspect of the game. We had to break everything down and start from scratch, and they've truly given us 110 percent of their effort."
It's that effort, and the way in which the Ladyjacks have gone about their preparations for the upcoming season, that has McNutt believing in her new team's chances in 2008. More importantly, though, the Ladyjacks believe in themselves.
"This team has developed a bond and a shared belief that they can win," McNutt said. "There's not been much success with this program in many, many years, and this team already believes they can win it all. That's huge when you start talking about a team that hasn't reached the conference tournament in 17 years, and now, all of a sudden, they think they can win it all. That has a lot to do with the camaraderie and belief in this team -- buying into our system and believing in us."
SFA will open the 2008 season Friday with a home doubleheader against Texas-El Paso. The two-game set is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. from Hoya Field. Following is a closer look at the 2008 Ladyjack softball team:
Every play starts in the pitcher's circle, and McNutt believes that could be the origin of this team's strength. The coach has five pitchers at her disposal, each with different strengths and styles. The stable includes juniors Kari Hugie and Debra Boles, sophomore Magen Butler and freshmen Lauren Luetge and Monika Covington.
"I think our pitching staff is going to be very strong," McNutt said. "Monika Covington was a big surprise for me as a freshman. She was very well-recruited out of high school and was a big land for this program."
Covington was a four-year starter on the diamond at Huffman High School and earned her district's defensive player of the year award, along with the team MVP moniker in her senior year.
"Granted, I haven't seen everybody in the conference," McNutt said, "but I think Monika's going to be the top pitcher in the league."
Hugie went 9-16 last season, giving her more wins than any other returning pitcher for the Ladyjacks. She also led the team with a 2.88 ERA. Hugie's 23 starts were more than any other SFA pitcher, and she tied for the team lead with 15 complete games, including a team-best five shutouts. McNutt expects the right-handed Hugie to provide a nice change of pace to Covington, a hard-throwing leftie.
"Kari is probably one of the smartest pitchers I've ever been around," she said. "She doesn't throw hard, she just throws smart."
The defense McNutt will put around her pitchers is a mixture of youth and experience.
She calls her outfield the strongest point on the diamond with junior Benet Higgs and sophomore Kendal Harper solid choices to start. Sophomore Michele Huffman is penciled into the third spot but could be pushed by freshman Monica Hirsch.
"It's going to be a battle between those two," McNutt said. "Hirsch is probably the best defensive outfielder we've got, as far as getting to the ball, but she doesn't have the experience that our other players have out there."
Higgs played in every game but one last year, starting 54 times in center field and batting leadoff in all 54 games she started. She recorded 106 putouts with six assists -- both team-highs for outfielders. Harper led off for SFA in the other two games and started 55 games in right field. Huffman started 14 games in left field with two starts in center.
"It's nice to have Benet back," McNutt said. "I think she'll be one of our players that people need to look out for."
On the infield, SFA looks strongest at the corners. The Ladyjacks return Jessica Tullos -- the team's lone senior -- at first base and sophomore Briana Bishop at third. Each player started 54 games at her respective position, and they only committed a combined 16 errors in 581 chances.
"Briana is a very steady player," McNutt said. "She's not flashy, but she's consistent, and I think we'll see some big things out of her."
SFA also brings back Kim Daley, a workhorse who started all 56 games behind the plate a year ago. Daley threw out 36 of 50 runners attempting to steal last season and finished tied for second in the SLC with four runners picked off.
The Ladyjacks' middle infield is a work in progress, with first-year players penciled in at both positions. Entering the season, junior Moriah Davis is listed as the shortstop. She redshirted last year after transferring from UT-Tyler. McNutt has several potential second basemen, but none with collegiate experience at the position. The early frontrunner to fill the position looks like freshman Ashley Struchtemeyer.
"Defensively, we're really young and inexperienced up the middle, but that's my only concern," she said. "Outside of that, I think we're going to be pretty solid. Our outfield is going to be one of the fastest in the conference."
At the plate, McNutt wants her team to be more aggressive than the bunch that batted .229 last season, finishing ninth in the Southland Conference.
"Offensively, we're going to swing the bats," she said. " I think this team's going to be much stronger at the plate. I want to hit the ball hard. I like the long ball, and I think I've got some kids who can hit it for me."
Bishop is one of those players. She led the team and ranked 11th in the SLC with a .329 batting average as a freshman last season. Her seven home runs were also a team-high, and her 14 doubles tied for second-best in the conference.
McNutt expects Tullos to provide some pop as well. The senior from Lufkin, Texas, led the team with 33 RBI, and her five homers were second only to Bishop. After an off-season working with assistant coach Craig Snider, Tullos' pitch selection has improved, and McNutt thinks that will pay dividends this spring.
"We saw great improvement out of Jessica this fall," McNutt said. "She came in and struggled a little with the style, at first. But she's a big, strong kid who likes to power the ball, and I think we'll see some good things out of her, offensively."
Harper was no slouch in the box last season, batting .303 with a team-best four triples, but McNutt is looking for an exponential increase in production from her.
"I think Kendal's going to be a big shock in this conference," she said. "She might be the strongest kid I've ever coached, especially considering that she's a slapper. She's going to be a big threat at the plate."
On the subject of surprising players in 2008, McNutt thinks Daley could fall into that category, as well. Daley hit just .093 last season and was relegated to a defense-only role late in the season, but some off-season changes to her hitting approach may have done the trick.
"We looked at her stats from last year and compared them to what she did for us in the fall," McNutt said. "There's really no comparison. She's made some big changes, and I expect her to do some good things for us, offensively."
That's not the only area where McNutt sees Daley helping this team, though. The catcher, along with classmate Hugie, were chosen as team captains this fall for their abilities as leaders off the field and in the dugout.
"I think you have to have people who are going to hold the team accountable," McNutt said. "As the head coach, that's ultimately my job, but you've got have that peer respect -- those players who will hold the team accountable. When your back's against the wall, you've got to have players who will step up and get your team going. I think Kim and Kari are two who can do that."
-- SFA --
