In the sport of softball, the position with one of the biggest spotlights is the pitcher. In their recently completed season, Hampton-Dumont-CAL used exclusively eighth graders in that position.
Kendall Eilderts started all 23 games and pitched the vast majority of the innings, where she compiled a respectable ERA of 4.21, the best by a regular starter since the 2022 season. She recorded 89 strikeouts and 58 walks in 124.2 innings. Maddie Pralle pitched 15 relief innings, where she recorded 15 strikeouts and 15 walks. Head Coach Kelsey Enslin-Vogel on how a staff of eighth graders can provide consistency and set the tone for future success.
“It’s really exciting for us to have two girls that both love softball and they want to work hard at it,” Enslin-Vogel says. “It’s exciting to have one year under their belts. It’s definitely a learning experience for them. There’s multiple times where we talk about things differently. They play on some club softball, but a lot of times their games don’t even go seven innings. They have time limits. So that was something we learned, growing pains. How many pitchers, how many batters they face, all of those things. Really that first year is just so invaluable for them, getting the experience, and we’re excited to keep working. It always helps when you can have some consistency. So when we have eighth graders that are young and we get four more years with them, that’s exciting.”
The 56 strikeouts delivered by Eilderts in North Central Conference games was the fourth-best, and she held opponents to a .257 average in conference play.
The team went 6-17.
