Junior core to lead young Bluejay softball team

Northeast Nodaway Softball

By Jacki Wood

The Northeast Nodaway softball team returns a slew of juniors to a fairly young team in 2019.

Third-year head coach Mandy Adwell said she is hopeful as the season approaches.

“We have a young team coming in so I am hopeful that the older students can teach the younger ones the ropes and we can just continue to build on that,” Adwell said, who will be assisted by Drew Bruner. “We are just going to work on getting better each day as we move forward.”

The six juniors returning for the Bluejays include Cassy Redden, Anne Schieber, Angela Standiford, Kami Adwell, Meribeth Lamb and Delainey McIntyre. They will be joined by two sophomores who are also returning, Kirsten Morrow and Rachelle Rodriguez.

Northeast Nodaway went 7-12 last year and lost two seniors to graduation from that team, Maggie Schmitz and MaKayla Adwell.

“These two ladies were a great asset to have on the team and were great leaders,” Adwell said.

The team goal for the Bluejays this year, Adwell said, is “to strive to be the best we can be.”

To do that, they will need to focus on improving both offense and defense.

“We struggled with hitting last year and we hope to improve in that area,” she said. “But we want to be a strong defensive team overall.”

Looking ahead, Adwell is excited to play in the Stanberry Tournament which comes in the middle of the season.

“It is a full day of softball and we really grow at this tournament as a team,” she said. “Each game we play we always improve.”

The Bluejays get the season started with their home opener on Friday, August 30 against North Harrison.