Waitsburg Expects Big Things from Young Pitchers

WAITSBURG – The 2017 Waitsburg Softball season starts Thursday, with a non-league game against MacHi's JV in Milton-Freewater.

The Cardinals are coached by Angie Potts, with assistant coaches Allan Wilson, Josh Wilson (also the middle school coach), Danielle Carpenter and Samantha Henze.

Two seniors, Timber Frohreich and Jade Alleman will be leading the team this year.

The Cardinals graduated their 2016 starting pitcher, so for 2017 Juniors Taylor Jones and Ariel Sandau, as well as sophomores Devon Harshman and Lexi Benson, will share time on the mound.

Standout catcher Jade Alleman, as well as Deja Williams, Frohreich, Harshman, Jones and Kelsey Alleman, will bring experience and solid fielding skills to the team. Coach Potts also praised upcoming underclassmen Karlie Mathews, McKenzie Forney and Kitty Lambert for their batting skills.

"The team is excited and working hard," said Potts.

The Cardinals will play this Saturday at Irrigon and have home games Monday and Tuesday versus Riverside and Columbia Burbank respectively.

This year there are only four teams competing in the league, as some schools do not have softball programs. League opponents include Pomeroy, Colton and Touchet. Prescott will field a JV team only this year.

Last Saturday the Cards hosted Dayton and Touchet in a jamboree. The three teams played each other in three inning scrimmages. Dayton was very dominant in the jamboree. Due to the weather Waitsburg was unable to finish their scrimmage against Touchet.

"We knew our weakness would be pitching because all of our pitchers, are new to that position," said Potts. "We'll keep working with them and as their accuracy gets better, so will their confidence."