Waukon softball team battles through 7-19 campaign under new head coach

The Waukon softball team played to a season record of 7-19 during its 2015 campaign, coming within a handful of runs of playing to an overall even record for the season, as half a dozen of the Indians’ losses came by three runs or fewer. More than half of this season’s losses featured one decisive inning in which the softball Tribe allowed enough runs to turn an otherwise competitive contest into a loss or one by a more decisive margin, proving the Indians were competitive more often than not, no matter who the opponent.
“At times during the year we showed signs of being a very good softball team,” Waukon softball first-year head coach Joe O’Neill said. “We had a great win at Charles City early in the year and played a tough Waverly team that was a State qualifier to a one-run game at their place late in the season. We played very well in the two Saturday tournaments that we were in. We just could not get all of our parts clicking at the same time for an extended period of time. We need to have the confidence that we can play with great teams and bring that type of softball every night.”
That overall season record included a mark of 2-13 in Northeast Iowa Conference play that placed the Indians sixth in the final league standings. That conference race typically includes seven teams, but Oelwein was unable to field a varsity team this season. The strength of this year’s Northeast Iowa Conference was further evident in the fact that a pair of NEIC teams qualified for the State Tournament in their respective classes, Waverly-Shell Rock making the Class 4A field and Crestwood playing its way to a Class 3A berth.
Coach O’Neill shouldered much of the responsibility for this season’s end result, knowing full well that a change in the helm doesn’t always mean the ship stays directly on the preferred course. “One challenge was being the new head coach for the first year,” he said. “We did some things differently this year than we have done in the past and I think with any kind of change it will take some time to adjust to the changes.”
He also admitted that offensive struggles continued to plague this season’s squad, as they were outscored, on average, by a two-to-one margin, averaging just over 3.3 runs per game but giving up 6.8 runs per contest. Further damaging that effort to keep pace on the scoreboard was an average of nearly 2.5 runs allowed per game that were unearned through defensive miscues that averaged right around three errors per game for the Indians.
“Another challenge was that we really struggled offensively to score runs,” Coach O’Neill said. “We had some girls that hit the ball well for stretches of the season, but again we were not able to maintain any consistency. Hitting was an area that we will continue to get better at in the off-season.”
Leading this year’s team with their veteran experience were just three seniors - Katie Kerndt, Thea Meyer and Allie Schwartz, all three of them being multi-year letterwinners and contributing in different specialty areas this season. “We lose three outstanding seniors that were all multi-year starters in softball,” Coach O’Neill said. “All three were great leaders not only on the softball field but  throughout other aspects of their educational careers. They put a lot of time in during the off-season to better themselves. I want to congratulate these three seniors for all they have accomplished in their high school careers and thank them for the many years of softball they have played.”
Meyer earned her fifth consecutive varsity softball letter this season, having been part of the Indians’ pitching rotation since her eight grade year. “Thea Meyer was our go-to pitcher all season long,” Coach O’Neill said. “She kept us in many games with her competitive style of play.”
Schwartz is now a four-year letterwinner in softball and showed her versatility by playing both infield and outfield throughout her career. “Allie Schwartz was our offensive leader the entire season,” Coach O’Neill shared. “She is the type of athlete that is going to help your team in all phases of the game.”
Kerndt has been a two-year letterwinner in the outfield for the Indians. “Katie Kerndt was a multi-year starter in left field and  started hitting the ball well toward the end of the season,” Coach O’Neill relayed.
As O’Neill mentioned, Schwartz was the Indians’ offensive leader this season with team-high plate efforts of 21 runs scored and 31 hits for a .383 batting average. She was also never caught in her 11 stolen base attempts this season. Junior Bethany Stock contributed her own bit of offensive leadership with team highs of 15 runs batted in (RBI) and seven doubles, as the Indians managed just under one double per game and had just one triple and zero homeruns this season after returning five different players with homeruns from last season.
As O’Neill also indicated, Meyer shouldered a majority of this season’s pitching duties, recording five of the Indians’ seven wins on the season and throwing just over 111 of the Tribe’s 166 innings in the circle while leading the team with 38 strikeouts. Helping with some of that pitching burden was the junior tandem of Leslie Sivesind and Madison Snitker, with Snitker posting team-leading totals of a .250 opposing team batting average and a 3.50 earned run average (ERA).
Four Indians were named to this season’s All-Conference team for their efforts on the diamond, with Schwartz garnering First Team honors as an infielder and also earning Academic All-State honors for her combined efforts on the diamond and in the classroom. Stock and Snitker ended up as Second Team selections at catcher and in the outfield, respectively, with Meyer being named All-Conference Honorable Mention for the second consecutive season as a pitcher.
With just three seniors leaving this season’s ranks, the Indians will return a majority of this season’s team for next year. Between now and then, however, Coach O’Neill knows that there is an abundance of work that needs to be done in order for his charges to be more competitive in the future.
“We need to participate in other sports throughout the school year,” he said. “By doing this, you continue to become a better athlete and maintain that competitive drive. We also need to continue working on our hitting/fielding during the winter.  We started a hitting club this past winter and girls need to take advantage of this if we want to continue to improve our softball program.”