March 29, 2024

Tigerhawks fueled by last year’s unfortunate ending

The Colfax-Mingo softball team was three outs away from advancing to the state tournament last season.

The Tigerhawks led Martensdale-St. Marys 7-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Blue Devils wound up rallying for the win at home and then brought home a Class 1A third-place trophy from the state tournament.

That loss is fueling Colfax-Mingo as the Tigerhawks head into the 2017 season with high expectations.

Colfax-Mingo welcomes back three all-staters from a team that won 25 games a year ago.

The Tigerhawks should be in the mix for another South Iowa Cedar League title, should be preseason ranked in 1A and should contend for a state tournament berth.

“We had a nice season last year, but it’s a new year and we haven’t won any games yet,” long-time Tigerhawk coach Bryan Poulter said.

The Tigerhawks went 25-10-1 in 2016. They only lost twice in conference play and they are the unquestioned favorite to repeat as league champion.

“”I am approaching this season with the mindset of having a large target on our backs,” Poulter said. “There won’t be any unknowns this year. There are no more surprises in the SICL. Teams will now know who we are and what we can do.”

Colfax-Mingo didn’t graduate a single player from last year.

Senior Amy Russell is back after earning first-team all-conference and second-team all-state honors in 2016.

Juniors Ries Wilson and Rhiannon Haley also earned all-state recognition a year ago.

Throw in second-team all-conference selection Alivia Haley, and the Tigerhawks have one of the most potent 1-4 hitters in 1A.

“They are proven hitters,” Poulter said. “Those aren’t fluke years that they had last year. That’s the expectation. They present tough situations for opponents. We will definitely count on them a lot this year.”

Russell hit a team-best .521 at the plate and belted a team-high six home runs and drove in a team-high 44 RBIs last season. She also led the team in runs (50), hits (63) and on base percentage (.574).

Russell bounced back in the circle after playing through an injury-plagued season as a sophomore.

Last year, she went 16-5 with an earned run average of 2.13. She fanned 119 hitters in 121 3/4 innings and opponents batted .191 off her.

Poulter sees Russell as one of his No. 1 pitchers. He expects her to share that role with sophomore Colbee Cunningham, who honorable mention selection last year after going 8-3 in the circle and batting .280 at the plate.

“We have two No. 1 pitchers,” Poulter said. “We’ll use the both of them in multiple ways. it gives us a lot of flexibility.”

Wilson was nearly as good as Russell at the plate in 2016. She batted .462 with six home runs and 33 RBIs. She crossed homeplate 47 times, walked 13 times, stole 11 bases and reached base 51 percent of the time.

Rhiannon Haley batted .398 as the team’s primary catcher. She belted five home runs and drove in 38 runs and walked 12 times.

Her older sister, Alivia, had the third best average on the team after hitting .410.

The rest of the lineup had their moments last season. If they can improve at all in their numbers, the Tigerhawks will be very tough to beat.

According to Poulter, sophomore Mackensie Brown has caught his eye this preseason as a player who could make a big jump this season. She batted .272, drove in 17 runs and led the team with 17 walks.

“She’s worked hard this offseason,” Poulter said. “She looks very comfortable in the batter’s box.”

Four other Tigerhawks are back after starting at least 21 games last year. That group includes sophomores Chelsea Russell, Delaney Underwood, Braedynn Rawlins and Reghan Robinette.

Poulter knows his team brings back a lot of talent from a successful 2016 squad. He also is trying to harness the expectations that have been put on his team.

That can be hard these days because of social media.

“It’s a different situation,” Poulter said. “We used to be the main voice. Now, there’s a lot of ways to get information. There’s a lot of voices, and a lot of ways fans can tell the kids how great they are. We just need to take it a game at a time.

“We were close last year. That game got away from us. The kids want to close the gap this season. They want to get to the next level. We’ll have to do certain things well to do that.”

The Tigerhawks open the season against Lynnville-Sully at 6 p.m. on May 22 in Sully. The home opener is against HLV at 6 p.m. on May 24 in Colfax.