There was guarded optimism at Gresham Community High School over the prospects of the softball team enjoying an improved season from a year ago.
It took all of one game for the Wildcats to make that goal a reality and to validate coach Amanda Reindl’s belief that, while conference and postseason titles may not be in the immediate offing for Gresham, this will be a decidedly more fun year.
Winning has that effect. The Wildcats, hampered by low turnout last season that rendered them inexperienced and gossamer-thin, knocked off Marion 12-4 in their season-opener. It was a seminal victory for Gresham and for Reindl, whose Wildcats had gone winless in her two previous seasons coaching at the school.
“We have a very young team this year,” Reindl said, “but the younger girls have been playing just as long as the older girls. They are all very willing and eager to keep learning.”
Reindl, who described her first victory as “a refreshing change,” is enjoying the luxury of coaching a team of girls who have all played softball at some level prior to this year’s tryouts. That hasn’t always been the case at Gresham.
“It’s the first season we’ve had that,” Reindl said. “Last year we had to ask girls who’d never played the sport to come out for the team, just to fill nine position spots. We had to make a pitcher out of someone who’d never played before, just to give our one pitcher some relief.”
Junior pitcher Taylor Hoffman, a three-year starter, was the Lone Ranger on the mound last year for the Wildcats, getting the ball from Reindl to start each of Gresham’s 19 games in 2014. Senior shortstop Brianna Stehberger, a four-year starter and second-team all-CWC-10 pick last year, provides strength up the middle defensively and firepower at the plate.
Junior third baseman River Otradovec, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, is back, as are a couple of other junior two-year starters, outfielders Alison Reyes and Erika Jonsson, who can also play first base. Sophomore catcher and infielder Makena Arndt is the other two-year starter.
Six freshmen — pitcher/infielder Kamille Davids, catcher/infielder Mackenzie Hoffman, second baseman/outfielder Dani Huntington, pitcher/infielder Hailey Hoffman, first baseman Kiersten Fischer and second baseman Leslie Verstoppen — are all bidding for starting spots, as is junior outfielder Destiny Jung.
The outlook is brighter, and with the season-opening win under their belts, this year holds greater promise for Gresham. Numbers in the program are still low, however, compared with other schools in the conference, and the season’s goals are of a more modest variety.
“We have three pitchers this year, so we’re hoping we can rest some of our arms and have some of the younger pitchers step up,” Reindl said. “Our goals are to not get 10-run ruled, to go a full seven innings in the games we play, and to improve against everyone we play.
“Half of the team is used to losing all of the time, and the other half — the younger kids who had a lot of success on the lower levels, in summer ball — are used to winning all of the time. It’s a good mesh of the two. Both halves seem to complement each other pretty well.”
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