Coaches Corner for June 18th: Lindsey Hyman, Boone Softball

Joining us on coach's corner, KWBG, going to talk some boon softball, interim head coach, Lindsay Hyman joining us as the Torridors. Boy, coming off a real nice victory over Winnerset. We'll talk about that here in just a few. I know in the past we've talked about this when it comes to the Raccoon River Conference to just how challenging it is. Lindsay, you had to look at the schedule, though, this week and think to yourself, oh boy, double header, and then we got Webster City, then we got Winnerset, then Indian Ole, then Woodward Granger, who always seems to have really solid softball yet. Lindsay, you guys have put yourself in a real nice position right now, three and one on the week. Yeah, we definitely need it. We've been very proud of the effort and potential our girls have shown this week. We knew it has been in there. Last week was pretty tough on us. And just to come out and have our bat start fire in has just shown what this team is capable of. And I'm really excited to see what they can do. But yes, the schedule has definitely not been in our favor. We are managing, we are handling it, and these girls are stepping up every night and showing what they're capable of. Lindsay, you have to flush it sometimes. How'd you get the girls to kind of put away last week, which I know you said you were disappointed with. And let's be honest, you play Carlisle, you play Newton, Bondurant, Farrah, those aren't terrible losses. But sometimes it's tough for us to understand that, hey, this is a heck of a schedule. It's like, hey, I want to win every time out. So how do you flush it? How do you get the girls to just say, listen, it was over with, let's move on? Yeah, I think one of the biggest challenges for us this year is just getting the girls to believe what their potential is and what they are able to do. We've been able to compete with some of the best in the state. Fort Dodge is an incredible team. We were with them through the sixth inning. We had them on the brink. Carlisle, we played incredible. We beat a rated Pella team. We have the potential to really make some waves. The big thing is for these guys understanding what they're capable of doing. And so for us to just constantly talk, we talk about flushing next play, next play, move on. And so we talk often about what did we learn from those losses? How do we make adjustments? We worked on that a lot on Friday. Pitch Count is a lot of our issue. We were swinging at a lot of garbage because they just wanted to hit it so bad. So we worked a lot on that practice. And it just seems like it's starting to come through for us. We've gotten people healthy. We're starting to get into a flow, starting to really set our lineup. And it's going to be fun to see what these guys can do in the next few weeks. The last three games, Lindsay, this pitching staff has only given up one run. You shut out Gilbert in game two of the double header. You gave up one to Webster City with a shut out then over winner set. How is the pitching kind of, I don't want to say turn to corner because that's maybe never fair to say. Maybe they've just been hot this week. But what about this pitching staff right now? Oh, yeah. They're just been incredible. It's been so fun. They kind of have like a three headed dragon right now between Brooke and Kaylee and Tenley. They each bring just a little bit variety that throws people off. So, I mean, Brooke last night was just on fire. Her, she was bringing at her choices and where she was placing the ball were incredible. Her changeup, when her changeup is on, it is something that is a sight to see. So, Brooke's been amazing. Tenley is obviously an eighth grader and she throws the ball so incredibly hard. Just her velocity alone, throws people for a loop and Kaylee can move the ball like anything. So, we are excited to see what these three can do, especially when one team kind of starts to hit ya. We have somebody else we can throw in. They work really well together. They've worked incredibly hard. We've been really trying to listen to them. Chelsea Reardon has come on as a coach and she's been doing a great job with our pitchers and catchers kind of building capacity and what their strengths are and what works against batters and just listening to them. And so, I've just been really excited to see the potential that they have and what they've been able to do against some of the top hitters in the state. Don't think that I'm not gonna forget about these hitters because they have put on a pretty nice show here the last week as well. Claire Hardinger having a fantastic sophomore year. I thought she had a real nice freshman year. The games I've seen her play this year, it feels like maybe a little bit more patient at the plate. Let's start with Claire though. Here's a girl who's hitting over 500 against Raccoon River Conference play as well. Tell me about this sophomore and what she's kind of put together from last year to this year. Yeah, I can't say enough good things about Claire. Claire has an incredible softball IQ. She studies the game, she loves the game. So when she gets in that box, it's for real. She is going to find her pitch and she is going to swing at it. And what she does that so many girls are learning to do is make adjustments. Like, ooh, I should have taken that one, I shouldn't have. So every at that she is learning, she's processing and she's getting better. She is a great lead off. Her on base percentage is 536. She's got an average of 509. I mean, she can run, she can field. She is just the heart of our team right now and I'm just so proud of the growth I've seen in her from her freshman to sophomore year. Well, I know we just talked about these two in the circle but tell me about Brooke and Kaylee at the plate a little bit too because not just only finding ways to get on base which they did a real nice job last year but these two are your two top RBIers this year. Yeah, I would be very nervous to see Brooke or Kaylee coming into the batter's box because man, they can do anything with that ball especially with runners on. They know their job is to get those runners in and they do it very, very well. Brooke is one of the smartest batters when it comes to finding her pitch. She is very picky at the plate. She is not just going to swing at junk. So she makes pitchers probably with her pitching mentality and Kaylee's pitching mentality. They make those pitchers really work until they put one in there and they just typically send it. I mean, that ball goes when the girls are in the box. Something else you guys have really improved on especially I remember from the Ballard game to the last time that I saw you was in the field. Is this something, Lindsay? I mean, I know we talk about it with hitting sometimes that that becomes contagious where somebody gets a hit all of a sudden four in a row get a hit. I'm watching this error total just, I know it can't go any lower obviously but I'm watching games where you're averaging an error or maybe less a game. What about this fielding so far the last couple of weeks? Oh yeah. That is something that has been a major focus defensively. Nate Landis did a great job with them in the spring just prepping them to make plays and move on and get out like at the end of the day we need to get 21 out. And so they are really locked in. They're communicating a lot better. There's obviously things every game we want to get better at. Cups have been something we've really focused on but I'm proud of their mental capacity to just come through when an error comes. At the beginning we were kind of spiraling and letting errors add up and they're not doing that anymore. They're getting stronger physically, they're getting stronger mentally and I'm just proud of the growth they've made defensively. And along those lines, I mean, I do have to give a shout out here to Hallie Bailey stepping into that defensive role in the catcher position when Avery Hallie has been out. She has been incredible behind leading in the catcher's position and just building into those pictures and building into the defense. We would not be where we're at right now without Hallie stepping into that role. Lindsay, I know you're looking for wins obviously but you get two non-conference games to end up the week and usually that means, okay, we can try a couple of things. I know all games are important but let's be honest, we always want to win as many conference games as we can but now you get Indianola tonight, you get Woodward Granger tomorrow night. Can you tinker a little bit or let's not tinker, let's get more wins. Yeah, good question. I think the beginning of the year we had some people injured so I felt like we were really tinkering a lot the first few weeks. And now we're kind of starting to get into a flow. So pitching, we will try to get everybody some rotations to get them some throwing in but our defense right now, we just want to build some confidence. We're really young and we need some girls to just get some experience and some spots. So building capacity is always where we're at but right now we want to kind of lock in and just see what some kids can do. Lindsay, as always, thank you so much for some time. Best of luck against Indianola tonight. We'll see you tomorrow night for Woodward Granger. Thanks Ryan, appreciate it. You bet, that's Lindsay Hyman joining us. Boone Softball here on Coaches Corner.