Thunder Softball Ready For 2011 Season

Mar 14

Wes Vork-NSO

It may be early March, but that hasn’t stopped a local softball team from getting in a couple of outdoor practices. Twice over the past two weeks the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College ‘Thunder’ women’s fast pitch team has been seen in area parking lots taking fly balls for their outfielders.

“We open our season on March 24th and it is really difficult to get a chance to work with outfielders on fly balls,” said 4th year Thunder coach Kerry Rodd. “We took advantage of some local parking lots that were snow free and went out on the last day of February and first day of March.”

Both days the temperature was cold and on March 1st high winds made working with outfielders a tad more difficult.

“Like we told the players at the time, this is what it could be like in April when we are playing for real so we might as well get used to it,” commented Rodd. “It was cold, windy and overcast, but at least we got some outside time.”

The Thunder will be a very young squad this year, but Rodd feels they have a chance to make a repeat trip to the MCAC State Tournament which will be held the first weekend in May at Braun Field in Cloquet.

“I like our pitching and our overall depth,” Rodd stated. “We should be pretty solid defensively.”

The Thunder will look to newcomers Katie Youngberg (Moose Lake-Willow River), Kassi Neary (Hill City) and Kalee Harp (Cromwell) to lead their pitching staff.

“Our ace will be Youngberg,” commented Rodd. “Katie throws hard, but more importantly we’ve developed some movement on her pitches and that will make it a whole lot more difficult for hitters.”

The Thunder return three players who started last year. Anchoring the outfield will be Anna Engelmeier (Hermantown), while Lisa Muehlberger (Duluth Central) and Holly Nelson (Carlton) led the team in hitting a year ago.

“Anna is a very good outfielder and can run,” mentioned Rodd. “Holly and Lisa are both strong hitters and can hit for power.”

Nelson will see time at first base and the outfield, while Muehlberger will see time at both first and third.

The Thunder also got a special surprise when a member of the first team in school history decided to come back and play her final season.

“Monica Smith (Cloquet) was a starter on our first team three years ago,” Rodd remarked. “It is like having another returning player step in. We have a need at catcher and Monica will step into that role as well as seeing time in the infield at third, second and maybe even first base, and outfield. Players like Monica are hard to find. She can hit, she can run, she can play defense and she can fit into any position we need. We are ecstatic she came out this season.”

Joining Smith at catcher is freshman Liz Wilke-Bobst (Littlefork-Bigfalls).

“Right now we are just planning on splitting time with Monica and Liz,” Rodd said of the catching situation. “We have a lot of games in a short period of time and they’ll both need to stay fresh with their legs.”

Ariel Morris (AlBrook) will handle the shortstop duties, while Rachel Sanda (Cloquet) and Smith will hold down the second base position. Third base will be handled by Neary, Youngberg, Muehlberger and Smith.

“We just feel we have a lot of options with this team,” Rodd mentioned. “Once we get going we will feel things out, but right now we feel good about our depth.”

Another freshman Casey Pierce (McGregor) has given Rodd even more decisions to make.

“Casey is another one of those players in the mold of Smith and Sanda that can fit in anywhere you play her,” explained Rodd. “Our good problem is we have a lot of infielders, but the difficult thing we face is figuring out our outfield and we think that Casey can help us be stronger out there so that is a big bonus.”

All-in-all the Thunder appear to be a stronger team than a year ago and they’ll need to be when they open with three straight triple headers in late March and early April.

“We’ll be without Youngberg when we open that first day due to her being out of town, but we’ll just have to do the best we can,” suggested Rodd. “I do think once we get into league action that we’ll be just fine.”

Comments can be sent to wes@northlandsportsonline.com