Niwot softball prepares for upcoming season

The Cougar softball team is working on strengthening a brand new team as it heads into its first games of the season.

Last season, the Cougars ended with a 12-9 record and although they didn’t compete for a title in the state tournament, they had a strong team of heavy hitters. Head Coach Bobby Matthews is returning to build another strong team after many girls graduated last year.

“We graduated quite a few girls last season,” Matthews said. “So we definitely had some serious holes to fill.”

Even with holes to fill, Matthews said one of the biggest things they have going for them this year is having their number one pitcher, senior Grace Ladd, back on the mound.

“She was hurt all last year and did not throw one inning,” Matthews said of Ladd. “She hit towards the end of the year and was on fire offensively… But we’re definitely excited to have her leadership and have her in the circle.”

Ladd, who recently verbally committed to play softball at Brown University, has been training hard on and off the field to ready herself for her last season at Niwot and future seasons at Brown.

“Softball is so much about your pitcher,” Matthews said. “So if you have a dominant pitcher only playing twice a week, maybe three times a week, she can throw basically every game of the season.”

With Ladd back on the mound, senior Madison (Maddie) Kunkel, can return to being a relief pitcher where she’s most comfortable.

Another positive for the team this year is that junior Jaila Johnson can also return to her more familiar position of playing in the infield. Last year Johnson was thrust into a role as catcher because Niwot didn’t have one, but that will soon change.

“We have two freshmen catchers coming in—Madysun Vaughan and Reagan Wills,” Matthews said. “That gives Jaila an opportunity to actually play one of her more comfortable positions in the infield. That’s exciting her for and exciting for our program.”

With only five returning players, including Ladd, Kunkel, Johnson, sophomore Savannah Rafkin and junior Aleris Law, Niwot has eight newcomers on varsity, pushing the coaching staff to be creative about positions.

“Outside of the catchers and pitchers, no one really has a set position yet,” Matthews explained. “We’re kind of doing the jigsaw puzzle right now—putting pieces together to try to figure out what’s going to be our best lineup.”

Even though Matthews doesn’t know what the season will hold, he knows they probably won’t be the same strong hitting team they have been in the past, and he’s okay with that.

“Obviously we don’t know what the season’s going to be,” he said. “We’re not going to be the power hitting team we’ve been in the past and that’s okay. We’ve got a little more speed now and we’ll still hit well. I just don’t see a lot of the home runs this year that we’ve had in the past.”

Matthews said putting a new team together and being creative about how they win games has been exciting for himself and the coaching staff, which has also had some changes. Jason Johnson (Jaila Johnson’s dad), who was the JV head coach for the past three years, will be a varsity assistant coach this year.

Former Niwot softball player Katrina Hunt will also return to help coach the varsity team, and Angel Delozier will be the staff mom and head jv coach this year.

“I’m kind of excited that we as coaches get to really, really coach this year,” Matthews said. “The last couple years those girls knew what they were doing, and we pushed them but at the same time they knew what they were doing. It’s fun to watch a young group of new girls find their way, and as coaches it’s definitely given me a bit of fire to watch that, help develop them and grow.”

Matthews knows Niwot won’t be the same team as in the past, but he said if the girls continue to keep grinding and pushing each other every day, “we can be successful.”

Niwot’s first game of the season is on Tuesday, August 23 against Greeley Central. The Cougars play Centaurus at Niwot on Thursday, August 25 at 4 p.m.