SFCC softball begins fall with large roster

Sedalia, Mo. – The State Fair Community College (SFCC) softball program has already begun the process of blending 10 returners with 24 newcomers. The coaching staff likes how the fall has gone so far.

"The fall has been going great," said head coach Michele Rupard. "We have been able to scrimmage more with the large roster size. We get to see the kids in more live situations. We have been able to do more things in practice that are different than what we've been able to do in the past. Now, we can work on baserunning, hitting, and fielding all at the same time."

SFCC will have four returning pitchers in the circle, three of which saw significant time last year. A couple of them are coming off injuries.

"Elana Clark pitched significant innings for us last year," said Rupard. "I think she will fill that role again this year for us as a returner. We also have some newcomers that will see significant time in the circle for us this year. Addison Wallace, Emma Newton, Grace Evans and Corinne Tuck will all be in competition for a role as a starting pitcher. Ashlynn Maness, Mikensey Devorss, Dawnee Sorensen and Alexa Borgmeyer will also compete for time in the circle."

"Our pitching staff is pretty deep," said Rupard. "We have a variety of different kinds of pitchers. We have the ability to mix it up in the circle and play some different matchups which we haven't really been able to do in the past."

"Each one of our pitchers will bring something different," said assistant coach Madison Love. "We have three or four girls who can throw close to 60 miles an hour. We also have pitchers who can keep the other team off balance."

SFCC will return two catchers from last year's team.

"We are looking for Katlyn Starke to step up," said Rupard. "Natalie Crumpler also caught some for us last year. We also have some newcomers in the mix behind the plate. Chelsye Graham is a transfer student. Miley Rathmann and Piper Costello are true freshmen. We look for them to come in and compete for some time behind the plate."

SFCC returns Jenna Herald in the middle infield.

"Jenna can play all over the field," said Rupard. "She started in 90% of our games last year in some role. She will play some shortstop, along with third base and maybe see some time in the outfield. We also have some freshmen that we're looking forward to playing a role in the middle infield, like Grace Evans and Corinne Tuck along with Reagan Bauer, Maria Loum, Haylee Cobb and Shyanne Weibrecht."

"At the corner infield positions, Jenna Herald might see some time at third base," said Rupard." We also have Kenzie Luber and Morgan Marshall. Some of our pitchers will also play some first base like Addison Wallace and Emma Newton. Brooke Collison is more of a traditional first baseman. We have a handful of options between third base and first base."

Carley Conrad is a returner in the outfield for SFCC. Conrad played a lot of center field for SFCC last season. Ally Burk also returns to the outfield for SFCC.

"We are also going to transition Courtney Dehn to the outfield," said Rupard. "She played some first base for us last season. She will also be a designated player for us. We also have some newcomers in the outfield like Madelyn Backes, Jaden Mauzey and Jillian Reller."

"Katie Davidson can play both in the infield and outfield along with Dannnica Hassler and Kale Hatfield."

"In the fall, we're trying to figure out who we are as a team," said Rupard. "I don't necessarily recruit to a certain style. We recruit kids we like and figure out who we are from there. We have a handful of fast kids, so I can see us running quite a bit this fall. We expect to see good innings from the pitchers. We're looking to see who can start and who can come in relief. We are just trying to figure out where all the pieces will fit together."

"We are also excited about the possibility of playing some games on our new field in the spring," said Rupard.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics