The Hampton-Dumont-CAL softball team took a step forward with the development of a younger roster this season. Five different Bulldog players between 8th grade and freshman year played in at least 15 varsity games.
An aid in the growth of younger players was the leadership of seniors Teaghan Bird, Aspen Harlan and Emma Ott.
Head Coach Kelsey Enslin says the seniors brought great knowledge to roles and made an impact.
“We’re losing a lot of experience. Aspen’s been behind the plate for five years and Teaghan’s pretty hard to replace in the outfield as she developed into such a competitor at the plate with her speed. Then Emma has kind of played all over for us,” says Enslin. “They’ve had a big impact on us, they’ve done a great job leading. I told them they’re always welcome back. We’ll definitely miss them especially their experience and their softball knowledge.”
Bird had a team best .352 batting average and Harlan led the team with a 2.81 ERA and 19 RBI’s.
Enslin says the Bulldogs return an experienced middle infield and growing youth with varsity time.
“Looking forward, we have some young pitchers that are coming up. We have Charlee and Mallory solid in the center of the field. We had a lot of young kids gain experience. Addy and Madison, you can see them grow up and make that year’s growth just from eighth grade to freshman year because their confidence changed so much. A lot of our really young kids got to step in and get varsity experience, which you really can’t replicate in any other situation. Moving forward, I think that’s going to be really helpful.”
The Bulldogs had five North Central Conference all-conference honorees including junior Charlee Morton, junior Mallory Reiken, senior Teaghan Bird, senior Aspen Harlan and freshman Addy Aalbers.
HD-CAL finished the year at 7-17 overall.
