1 day Ago By Max O'Neill
CARRINGTON, N.D. — The Carrington High School softball team is heading into the season with a singular focus for both the newcomers and the veterans — make the state tournament.
“Last year, we were fortunate enough to reach a ...
state qualifying game ...
against Thompson that didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” Cardinals head coach Brady Smith said. “We talked about our goals for the year at the end of last week and one of our team goals was to get ourselves back into that position again. We’ve been making progress it seems like every single year and hopefully we can just keep building off of what we have learned and accomplished last year and continue it with this year’s season.
But the only way we can do that is take care of business each week and control what you can control and you do whatever you can to help the team win.” ADVERTISEMENT This year’s squad has two young players who will help make a big difference in achieving that goal — freshman Maara Kutz and sophomore Calleigh Hewitt. “They both have been starters since they were both in seventh grade and they made immediate impacts both offensively and defensively,” Smith said.
“They’re kind of our one-two punch on the pitchers' mound and they both hit in the top four of the order. They both can hit for power, both can hit for average and both put the ball in play and they make a lot of contact it seems like. Although they’re underclassmen, they’re still leaders on our team, that’s for sure.
” Last season, the Cardinals went 7-9 overall and saw their season come to an end with a loss to Thompson in the state tournament play-in game. Hewitt said her expectations for this season are to go further than they did last year. “I think we have pretty high expectations for ourselves,” Kutz said.
“Last year we were pretty proud of ourselves with how we came out in the region tournament. So I think we set some pretty high expectations for ourselves for this year to place pretty high in the region tournament as well.” After losing only one senior from last year’s team, Smith said he met with Hewitt and Kutz and told them that they are leaders for the team and he wants to see them continue to grow as players and people this season.
Hewitt said her personal recipe for success is to show up in the big moments and her team’s recipe for success is playing error-free defense. Hewitt is one of multiple players on the team who have been there since the program’s inaugural season in 2022. Over the last four years, Hewitt said the team has consistently improved and their knowledge of the game has grown.
ADVERTISEMENT Both Hewitt and Kutz have been playing for the team since they were in seventh grade. Since she was in seventh grade, Hewitt said she has become more confident and become more of a leader for her younger teammates. “Both have matured out quite a bit, both physically and emotionally,” Smith said.
“It’s kind of fun watching them defensively, in high-stress situations for the most part, pretty calm and collected yet they’re showing emotion when they need to. Offensively, I would say just knowing what their strike zone is, what pitches they’re able to drive and they also know what their weaknesses are offensively. That helps your eye at the plate with determining if the pitch is gonna be a ball, if it’s gonna be a strike and doing damage on the ball that’s in your hot zone.
” While this would be Hewitt and her teammates’ first-ever trip to the state tournament, she does have plenty of experience watching her older brother, Braxton, play baseball in the final stage of the season. She said watching her brother play in the state tournament has fueled her to want to reach that goal as well. During her freshman year, Hewitt hit .
521 with one home run, 10 extra base hits and 21 RBIs. Hewitt also went 5-3 with a 5.29 ERA and 39 strikeouts on the mound last season.
During her eighth-grade season, Kutz hit .500 with four home runs, 15 extra base hits and 25 RBIs. Hewitt said Kutz’ best skill is her baseball IQ and her power at the plate.
Both Hewitt and Kutz are shortstops and pitchers and have had experience playing both positions for the Cardinals. Smith said last year, Hewitt mostly pitched while Kutz mostly played shortstop. However, he said the two can play both positions interchangeably.
Smith said Hewitt throws a fastball and a changeup but she is working on learning new pitches. Hewitt said she is better at pitching than playing shortstop and prefers toeing the slab. She said she enjoys pitching because it allows her to control every play.
Kutz said she prefers playing shortstop over pitching because it doesn’t hurt her arm as much as pitching does. ADVERTISEMENT Despite the age difference, Hewitt said she and Kutz are close friends and go to practices and games together. Smith said he tries to put the two in groups together in practice because they push each other to get better.
Since the two play pitcher and shortstop, Smith said they are familiar with what the other is thinking during games. “If I’m playing shortstop one day and I make a mistake, it’s understandable and I know the feeling,” Kutz said. “So I just think I understand what everybody else feels especially if they’re having a rough day or if they’re having a good day.
I know how much confidence it brings to them, including me, when they get a good play.” Heading into softball season, Smith said his team has had to deal with being inside for the first week of practice but they have gotten to practice outside since March 24. “It’s definitely limited of what you can and cannot do when you’re inside,” Smith said.
“So it was finally nice to be able to take live fly balls and ground balls at least on the football field, which is better than taking them on a gym floor. Hopefully, we can stay outside for the rest of the week.” The Cardinals open the season at 7 p.
m. on Thursday, April 3, when they take on Velva at the Nelson Family Bubble..
