Red Oak softball season ends with regional loss to Shenandoah
SHENANDOAH — Keep building. That is what Red Oak softball coach Tristin Johnson wants to do.
“I’ve been happy with the young group. They’ve definitely out-performed some of the stuff that we thought they could,” Johnson said. “Now we need to get our mind-set where we’re not happy with just competing in games. We want to go out and want to win games.”
The Red Oak softball season came to an end last Wednesday in Shenandoah when the Tigers lost 12-0 in four innings to the Shenandoah Fillies as part of the 3A regional quarterfinals.
“They did what we asked. They made most of the plays that came to them. They put the ball in play tonight,”Johnson said “Shen made the plays. They hit the ball well and they wanted it tonight.”
The Fillies jumped ahead early and never relented.
“[Shen] hit the ball, they found some gaps. It’s tough to make those plays where they were hitting it,” Johnson said. “But our girls tried. They kept fighting, they didn’t give up.”
The Tigers were held hitless in the game.
Red Oak finishes the 2015 season with a 4-30 record. The four wins by Red Oak is the most they’ve had since 2012 when they went 13-23.
“The girls got to understand. They won one game last year. We’ve won four now,” Johnson said. “They got to see that we competed in a lot more games. But if you do a little more of the little things right, we probably win more. They got to start thinking, realizing that they can do this.”
Johnson wants to use the time during the offseason to continue that development. He wants to start doing open gyms after the winter holiday break and has also looked into the possibility of fall softball.
“We have a lot of offseason plans, we just have to get them going,” he said. Given the coaches that have come and gone in recent years, Johnson knows they haven’t had that push to workout in the offseason.
“Since I’m coming back, they’re excited with what’s going on,” he said. “They want to win in softball. I think they’re motivated enough that they’re going to want to put the time in.”
There’s no shortage of young talent back for the next season.
In addition to the likely senior group of Hailey Fada and Jasmine Forward, Red Oak will also have back experienced sophomores and freshmen who saw plenty of varsity time as eighth and ninth graders.
Johnson has been happy with how the eighth grade group, which includes Zoey Welter, Ashlee Young and Kamryn Buntrock have been helpful to the team.
“They went from winning most of their games to not winning as many as they hoped this year, but the game is also 10 times faster than what they’re used to,” he said. “That one year under their belt is going to help them a lot.”
Welter won all four of Red Oak’s games this season as the primary starter for the Tigers. Her 74 strikeouts (through 32 games) puts her seventh in the Hawkeye 10.
Buntrock was steady at first base. She tied for the lead in hits with 21 and was second on the team in batting average (.253 in 34 games). Her .967 field percentage led the team.
Young meanwhile was fifth on the team in hits with 14 and had a .260 on-base percentage in 34 games played. Young injured her knee on a play in the outfield and left the regional game.
Red Oak loses just one senior in catcher Shelbie Perez, who led the team with a .386 on-base percentage in 32 games. Johnson said finding a replacement will be tough.
“There’s a lot of little things that she does that a lot of teams don’t see,” Johnson said about Perez. “Being my first year, she’s helped me out a ton with the game of softball, not necessarily with the X’s and O’s, but the way she talks to the girls. She’s been great with the young ones. It’s definitely a big shoe to fill.”
Shenandoah lost the semifinal game 12-0 to Atlantic Friday night.