Medical Lake softball struggled with youth in 2015

Youth may have been the Achilles heel of the Medical Lake softball team in 2015 but that will likely translate into success next season.

"We've got two seniors graduating this year, we're still pretty young," head coach Tim Blakely said following the Cardinals up and down season that saw them finish 6-12 overall and 5-9 in the Northeast A League.

Following a 5-2 start the Cardinals lost 10 of their last 11 games, including a 13-1 thumping by Colville in a first-round, loser-out playoff game.

"We had a great opportunity in a very, very tough league," Blakely said. Lakeside finished third in state, Deer Park made it to state but Colville had its 13-year streak making it to the tournament snapped.

Medical Lake loses a pair of seniors, Maleeka Wegner and Chelsea Hamby, plus spark-plug All-NEA first-team selection Glori Cheevers who is moving out of district.

That means Blakely has some tasks ahead of him in the offseason to get current players elevated a notch or two. "I just gotta' get to work, that's what I need to do," he said.

What he means is putting more emphasis on teaching the mental part of the game, he said. That will start as early as some summer workouts, similar to what Medical Lake baseball is doing as Blakely said there will not be a summer team.

Then comes concentrating on skill development at the Middle School, which plays in the fall.

"(We) just really need to stress the mental part of the game," he said. That's having the kids focused on the field the entire seven innings.

"In the past we've had a few mental breakdowns," Blakely said.

But fielding, catching and making the throws is what can make the difference. "We've struggled a little bit at that," he said. "We've had our ups and downs, and that happens."

From an offensive standpoint, the Cardinals expect to return sophomores Taylor Pavao and Alex Steinmetz. Bradyn Wegner, Claire Dormaier, cousins Kayla and Katelyn Pruitt as well as Rachael Stanfill are juniors that are figured to return, too.

Blakely said Bradyn Wegner will be called upon in a key role as a pitcher in 2015. But she will have to sneak in some extra work in between running cross country and playing basketball.

Blakely said there are others who he has his eye on to possibly pitch, "And you never know who's going to move into the district."

The loss of Cheevers is a big blow.

"That's going to hurt a little bit but that means we're just going to have to work that much harder," Blakely said. There are enough players to fill in the gaps.

"We just need some of the girls to step up and take that challenge," Blakely said.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected]