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SIERRA VISTA — Buena returns 60 percent of its offense and its top two pitchers from a team that a year ago, spent virtually the entire season atop the state power point rankings only to be upset in the state semifinals by eventual state champion Mesa Red Mountain.
Nine months removed from that great disappointment, the returning Colts, of which there are eight, have the wisdom of that experience and have been hitting the weightroom to make sure a state championship that they are again favored to win, doesn’t slip away.
“Last year we were kind of young and those kids are coming back strong and the state experience they got is a big advantage for us,” Buena head coach Mike Tomooka said.
 The Buena high school girls softball team may be even better than last year's team that was ranked No. 1 in the state most of the season and reached the state semifinals before falling to Red Mountain. Buena opens its season Wednesday at Sabino. In front, left to right: Lisa Stensby and Meghan McIntosh. Second row: Jordan Trujillo, Ariel Morbeck, Shannel Blackshear and Ashley Chavez. Back row: Alicia Banks, Jenna Wright, Melissa Hardy, Courtney Dennis, Alexa Straton and Amanda Wilson. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
This season, Buena won’t have to wait for the power points to settle to start wearing a target on their backs. The Arizona Republic released its preseason Class 5A Division I poll on Sunday. Buena was ranked No.1 and co-aces Jordan Trujilo and Meghan McIntosh were cited as the top reason.
Last season, the two combined to rack up 23 of Buena’s 30 wins with the freshman McIntosh posting an ERA of 0.76 and 107 strikeouts and the sophomore Trujillo tallying an ERA of 0.90 and 81 strikeouts.
In the off-season, both played on elite Tucson traveling teams and McIntosh’s performance with the Tucson Desert Thunder won the attention of Arizona State University. Earlier this month, McIntosh, only a sophomore, verbally committed to the Pac-10 school.
“I haven’t seen them pitch (in games) yet. But their work ethics have improved a bunch,” Buena pitching coach Mark Schaefer said. “They’ve both got a new pitch — curveballs... And I think both of their velocities have gone up.”
This means in addition to the rise balls and drop balls that dominate the sport, McIntosh and Trujillo figure to have more ability to move the ball horizontally across the plate.
When McIntosh is pitching, Trujillo will be starting at second base and hitting in the lower third of the lineup. When Trujillo is in the circle, sophomore Ariel Morbeck, up from the junior varsity, will start at second, where the Colts will try to fill the hole vacated by senior Kara Samsel, who hit .398 and played stellar defense her senior year.
Samsel’s vacancy is one of four in the starting lineup Tomooka and his staff have had to fill.
The most concerning spot was at catcher where Michelle Anderson started for three years before leaving for Eastern New Mexico University. Junior Alexa Straton, who had played the last two years in the outfield, moves to catcher.
“She’s doing fine. The outfield vs. catcher transition is tough — there’s so much more you have to put in at catcher,” Tomooka said. “She’s caught both our pitchers in bullpen, so it’s not like we had a brand new kid going in there.”
On last year’s team, senior Alex Vincent patrolled center field with speed and range that made her a region hurdles champion in springs prior. To fill that hole, Tomooka is sliding junior Melissa Hardy, who led the Colts with 10 home runs in 2006, from right field to center. Senior Amanda Wilson is vying with sophomore Courtney Dennis for the starting job in right field and junior Jenna Wright moves from her starting spot at first base to left field.
The only other starting spot vacated by graduation is at third base, where for three years, Nicole Smith minded the hot corner. Smith is now playing at Pima College and in her place comes senior Lisa Stensby.
Stensby missed all of last season with a knee injury suffered during soccer season. Recently, she was cleared by doctors to resume playing softball.
“It was hard just sitting there, having to be the announcer (at games),” Stensby said of her lost season. “The doctors gave me the go-ahead two or three months ago. I was real rusty at first but I’m back to my old self.”
With a year of watching games from behind the backstop, announcing the players as they came to bat on the P.A. system, Stensby got another view of the game.
“You see more of the game that way, but it’s better to play. It’s always better to play,” Stensby said. “I think we’re stronger. We have our bats again and I think our fielding is stronger.”
Stensby specialized in second base and outfield before her injury, but said she’s played some third base on her traveling team.
“You have to be more focused and have better reactions,” Stensby said of the move to third.
Stensby will bat second in the lineup behind Hardy, who for the second straight season will be hitting leadoff.
Hardy said she’d like to exceed her double-digit home run total of a season ago, but in the preseason has been focusing more on being a well-rounded hitter.
“Right now, hitting-wise, I’m just aiming toward pure hits, making solid contact every time,” Hardy said.
Sophomore shortstop Shannel Blackshear hits in the three-hole after leading Buena in almost every significant hitting category last season. Batting fourth is junior Alicia Banks, who had seven home runs last season and this season will move from left field to first base.
Straton and Wright are flexible at the 5 and 6 spots, while second basemen Trujillo and Morbeck, right fielders Wilson and Dennis and pitchers McIntosh and Trujillo round out the bottom third of the order.
Two seasons ago, the Colts hit just 11 home runs as a team. Last season they hit a school record 39.
Thirty-nine could very easily be shattered again this season, thanks in part to a more rigorous weight and plyometrics training instilled by the coaching staff.
Since the summer the Lady Colts have been in the weight room, and have been participating in less conventional forms of strength and flexibility training that includes step-ups, medicine ball work, sticking hands into a five-gallon bucket full of rice and working the hands, 90-pound weight pulls for batters to do between turns in the batting cage and forearm grips.
“It’s general whole-body strengthening stuff,” Tomooka said.
But piling up the home runs isn’t what Tomooka is after.
“We want to be a better, consistent hitting team. Put the ball in play more and hit it solid every time we take a hack,” Tomooka said. “I want our girls to be aggressive hitters and do more on the basestealing. We may not have fast kids, but we’ve got smart kids.”
Matching last year’s home run total is also jeopardized by a tougher schedule that includes Chandler Basha, Mesa Mountain View and Canyon del Oro twice.
“Whenever the time necessitates, we’ll play the short game,” Tomooka said. “We’re not looking to hit the ball over the fence. That would be nice, but we’re going to be facing some good pitching.”
Buena opens its season Wednesday at Class 4A Sabino and plays its home opener Friday against Douglas. Both games are at 4 p.m.
Class 5A Division I Preseason Softball poll
1. Sierra Vista Buena
2. Mesa Red Mountain
3. Tempe Corona del Sol
4. Scottsdale Horizon
5. Glendale Mountain Ridge
Schedule
Day, Date Opponent Time
Wed., 2/21 at Sabino 4 p.m.
Fri., 2/23 Douglas 4 p.m.
Thu. 2/29 CDO Tournament TBA
Fri. 3/1 CDO Tournament TBA
Sat. 3/2 CDO Tournament TBA
Sat. 3/10 at Basha 2 p.m.
Fri. 3/16 at Cienega 6 p.m.
Mon. 3/19 at Canyon del Oro 4 p.m.
Tue. 3/20 at Rincon 4 p.m.
Thur. 3/22 Tucson 4 p.m.
Tue. 3/27 Ironwood Ridge 4 p.m.
Thur. 3/29 Desert Mtn. Tournament TBA
Fri. 3/230 Desert Mtn. Tournament TBA
Sat. 3/31 Desert Mtn. Tournament TBA
Tue. 4/3 Salpointe Catholic 4 p.m.
Thur. 4/5 at Flowing Wells 4 p.m.
Tue. 4/10 at Marana Mtn. View 4 p.m.
Thur. 4/12 Sunnyside 4 p.m.
Tue. 4/17 at Tucson 4 p.m.
Thur. 4/19 at Salpointe 4 p.m.
Fri. 4/20 at Sunnyside 4 p.m.
Tue. 4/24 Marana Mtn. View 4 p.m.
Thur. 4/26 Flowing Wells 4 p.m.
Projected batting order
Unofficial lineup (2006 statistics)
1. Melissa Hardy, CF, jr. (. 385 BA, 10 HR, .743 SLG, 38 runs, 16 walks)
2. Lisa Stensby, 3B, sr. (DNP)
3. Shannel Blackshear, SS, so. (.447 BA, 13 doubles, 5 triples, 34 RBI, .754 SLG)
4. Alicia Banks, 1B, jr. (.349 BA, 29 RBI, 5 HR, .639 SLG)
5. Alexa Straton, C, sr. (.302 BA, 4 SB, .413 OBP, 11 RBI)
6. Jenna Wright, 1B, jr. (.213 BA, 9 BB, 13 RBI, 2 HR, .319 SLG)
7. Courtney Dennis, DH, so. (JV)
8. Jordan Trujillo, 2B, jr. (.174 BA, 2 SB)
9. Amanda Wilson, RF, sr. (.240 BA, .4 walks, .367 OBP, 7 runs)
Pitching
- Meghan McIntosh, P, so. (13-2, 0.76 ERA, 107 K, 14 BB, 4 saves, 24 GP, 10 shutouts, .170 BAA, 91 2/3 IP)
- Jordan Trujillo, P, jr. (10-3, 0.90 ERA, 81 K, 13 BB, 5 saves, 27 GP, 11 shutouts, .154 BAA, 93 2/3 IP)-
Wiillie wrote on Mar 2, 2009 7:42 PM: