Led by Russell, Tigerhawk softball should be competitive in final year in HOIC

With its top seven hitters and two most productive pitchers back on the roster this year, Colfax-Mingo’s softball team should once again be in the running for a top finish in the Heart of Iowa Conference.

The Tigerhawks were 17-14 last year and finished fourth in the HOIC at 10-8.

But with each one of their top returners being a year older, things could be even better for Colfax-Mingo in 2015.

The only thing that has slowed them down early is the fact that the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union changed the time period for when the season begins and ends and small schools such as Colfax-Mingo have suffered because of it.

“It has been very difficult to find practice time that everyone can be at,” Colfax-Mingo coach Bryan Poulter said. “This is a very busy time of year at schools, and we had athletes participating in track, golf and soccer. It seems that finding a time that everyone can be at practice at the same time is next to impossible.

“I believe that this problem is expounded at smaller schools because we have to do more sharing of our athletes.”

Russell is one of the Tigerhawks that played a spring sport. But track and field ended this past weekend, and Russell is now able to focus on softball.

Russell earned first-team all-HOIC honors as a freshman last year. She led the Tigerhawks in hitting at .424 and also had a team-high five homers, 16 doubles and 24 RBIs.

In the circle, Russell was just as good. She was 13-9 on the year but had an earned run average of just 1.21. She fanned 141 batters in 144 2/3 innings pitched.

“She is a workhorse pitcher who led us at the plate, too,” Poulter said.

Helping Russell keep the Tigerhawks near the top of the conference will be two other sophomores in Alivia Haley and Brooke Nicholson and two freshmen in Rhiannon Haley and Ries Wilson.

Wilson is the squad’s No. 2 pitcher. She tossed 50 innings last year as an eighth-grader and went 2-5 overall with an ERA of 2.88. At the plate, Wilson hit .279 and stole eight bases.

Rhiannon Haley was second to Russell in hitting at .330, doubles with nine and RBIs with 21. Nicholson hit .274 and Alivia Haley hit .272 last year.

“Those four girls played well for us last year and will be our core of run producers and scorers with Amy,” Poulter said.

Erin Earles is one of three seniors on the roster. She was third in hitting and RBIs last year with .287 and 16, respectively.

The other two seniors are Sara Lahart and Rylee Thompson. Sierra Paul is the only junior and the roster also includes sophomore Payton Haney and 10 eighth-graders.

“That will have to be a wait and see answer,” Poulter said when asked about newcomers that may make an impact this year. “We have a nice group of eighth-graders coming up to play high school ball and many of them bring a nice set of softball fundamentals with them. But none of them have played varsity softball before.”

Poulter pointed to the team’s defense as something that needs to be better this year.

The Tigerhawks committed 88 errors in 31 games last year and of the 14 losses, seven were decided by two runs or less.

“We can’t give our opponents extra opportunities,” Poulter said. “It seemed like we would play well for six of the seven innings of our games last year. We need to stop the bleeding when we get a scratch.”

The Tigerhawks were 10-8 in league play a year ago, trailing only HOIC champ Prairie City-Monroe, runner-up Greene County and South Hamilton.

Greene County reached the state tournament in Class 3A, while PCM was one game away.

Colfax-Mingo ended its season with a 7-6 loss to Collins-Maxwell/Baxter in the opening game of the 2A playoffs.

This year, the Tigerhawks dropped down to 1A. And while that should help C-M advance further in the playoffs, it doesn’t guarantee the team anything, according to Poulter.

“We will be taking on schools our size and smaller versus primarily taking on schools larger than us,” Poulter said. “I think playing in 1A for the postseason creates an opportunity for us but irrelevant of the class that we play in, we have to play smart, aggressive and fundamentally sound softball. If a team doesn’t do that, they put themselves in position to be beat.”

This will be the final season of playing in the HOIC for the Tigerhawks.

They will compete in the South Iowa Cedar League beginning next year. That league is predominantly 1A schools.

The Tigerhawks began the 2015 season with a 12-0 loss in five innings to the 2014 2A runner-up in Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. They play at Greene County at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday before hosting Grand View Christian at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Monday

Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 12,

Colfax-Mingo 0, five innings

COLFAX — The Rockets broke open a scoreless game with two runs in the third, four in the fourth and ended it by mercy rule with a six-run fifth inning on the evening of Memorial Day.

Randie Richmond, a freshman, held the Tigerhawks to three hits.

She earned the win in the circle while Russell gave up 12 earned runs on 13 hits and took the loss.

Russell and Rhiannon Haley each doubled at the plate for Colfax-Mingo, while Nicholson had the other hit.

Paige Shafer had three hits and two RBIs to lead the Rockets, while McKinley Moore drove in three runs.