Softball: Seneca hopes young arms plus experienced bats equal success

The Seneca softball program, which a season ago surpassed 20 wins for the fifth straight full season and the 11th in the past 12 campaigns, looks to have plenty of talent to reach that goal again in 2023.

The Fighting Irish lost five starters – Maddy Klicker, Zoe Hougas, Allie Arwood, Taya Roe and Madi Mino – to graduation but still return a wealth of experience that will be joined by a trio of promising freshmen.

“It’s never easy losing five starters from the previous season off a team that played really good softball, but I’m hoping the amount of experience back combined with our three talented freshmen will put us in position to compete at a high level early on,” Seneca fourth-year coach Brian Holman said. “Overall, we should be solid at every position, but we are going to have to work defensively to find our best lineup.”

“I feel like we did hit the better pitchers pretty well last season, especially at the end of the season, and that is something that will have to happen again this season to be successful.”

—  Seneca softball coach Brian Holman

Seneca, which finished 22-11 overall and won the Tri-County Conference title at 11-1 last season, brings back junior pitcher Alyssa Zellers, who went 10-6 with an ERA of 2.92 and 93 strikeouts in 106 innings. Holman also will call on freshman pitchers Camryn Stecken and Tessa Krull, who he feels may see most of the innings in the circle.

“[Stecken and Krull] have both played a ton of softball, whether it be at the grade school level or travel ball, so even though they are both freshmen, they will start this season with a lot of experience on the softball field,” Holman said. “We do play a pretty tough schedule, so they will be 14-year-olds walking into a gauntlet, and it may take them some time to get acclimated, but we also have experience around them to help them adjust.

“We are expecting really good things from both of them.”

Junior shortstop Sam Vandevelde, who earned Class 2A All-State honors from the ICA and was a first-team selection to the All-TCC and Times All-Area squads, is back after hitting .455 with 17 doubles, seven triples, four home runs and driving in 41 runs.

Holman said, although not set in stone, Zellers (3B) will lead off after hitting .402 with 12 doubles, six triples, two homers and 23 RBIs last year, followed by Stecken and either Vandevelde or sophomore Audrey McNabb (DP/OF) in the Nos. 3 and 4 spots. Then it may be Krull, freshman catcher Lexie Buis and a combination of seniors Callee Bauer (RF), Neely Hougas (OF), Kennedy Hartwig (2B), Kaitlyn Higgins (OF) and junior Taylor Mino (UTIL).

“I feel the same keys to having successful years like we’ve had in the past two won’t change. We are going to have to throw strikes and make plays defensively when those opportunities come up,” Holman said. “But I also feel like the biggest key, because the game of softball has turned a little, is as a team you have to be able to hit good pitching.

“In the last 10 years or so, it’s become a very specialized spot. Every team has a very solid No. 1 and sometimes very good No. 2 or No. 3. Softball isn’t like baseball where your No. 1 guy has to take a few days off, so if one of your pitchers gets the hot hand, you ride that as long as you can.”

Seneca is scheduled to begin its season Wednesday at Gardner-South Wilmington, then has a week off before traveling to play Newark on March 23, and then taking part in the Manteno/Bradley-Bourbonnais Tournament that weekend.

“I feel like we did hit the better pitchers pretty well last season, especially at the end of the season, and that is something that will have to happen again this season to be successful,” Holman said. “We’ll need to find a way to score runs against the best, and if we can do that, more often than not I feel we will be in good shape.”