By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
The Sitka High Lady Wolves softball squad opened their season with one win and one loss against the Juneau-Douglas Bears over the weekend.
Nearly two years after the team’s most recent softball game, senior Sitka center fielder Grace Harang stressed the importance of learning from mistakes.
“Just trying to stay up – for me it’s definitely seeing people make improvements on the team, seeing people make mistakes and how they learn from it, because that was me two years ago. And it still is,” Harang said after Friday’s game.
Juneau won 10-6 in that game, but Sitka turned the tables and won 14-6 Saturday evening at Moller Field.
The Bears held a commanding 8-2 lead Friday by the end of the fifth inning, but 4 runs by the Lady Wolves in the bottom of the sixth narrowed the gap. Sitka’s first at bat in the sixth was senior Morgan Feldpausch, who made it to third base, and ran home following a hit by Kaiya Balovich.
The early plays at the bottom of the sixth granted Sitka some momentum, but it wasn’t enough.
Through the course of the game, Harang hit two Runs Batted In. Both Harang and Feldpausch notched three hits total on Friday. On Saturday, Feldpausch upped her game and hit four RBIs.
Coach Jael McCarty recalled the sixth, and said she’d had hopes for a 7-run inning.
“I just reassured the girls that we’ve had big innings before. We’re kind of known for our hitting so we keep telling them to keep putting the ball in play and things will go our way. We had people who have had solid hits coming up – we were pretty confident, and I just told them to have a 7-run inning,” the coach said. “We didn’t quite make it there but they were being aggressive and they were confident. I saw so much confidence at the plate in our hitters that I’m sure we’re going to see some big run games.”
It was in the second game that Sitka’s hitters found their stride and toppled the Bears by a wide margin, 14-6.
When on the field, Harang focused on the ball.
“Just do the best that we can, do what we know. For me, when the ball’s in the air, do anything to get to that ball, don’t pay attention to what your body is doing, just have your eyes on the ball and know what you’re going to do when you get to it,” she said.
While fans in the stands can fixate on the scoreboard at times, Harang said that on the field she’s in the moment.
“I don’t pay attention to the score. In the moment I think the ball’s coming in, look for the seams and make that connection,” Harang said.
Formerly a catcher, Harang said playing center field feels natural.
“It’s kind of surreal because I always viewed the field from the catcher out and now I’m viewing it from the center field in and it’s completely different and it feels really natural,” she said. “I like it a lot. I love my position and it feels like I never missed anything.”
For Feldpausch, Friday was the first time on the softball diamond since an injury ended her freshman season three years ago. Now a senior, she focused on confidence.
“Having more confidence in yourself, knowing that you can catch the ball, or you can hit the ball,” Feldpausch said. “For me it was like three and a half years. The last time I was on the field I got an injury that took me out the rest of that half of the season, so it’s been interesting. It’s been pretty fun though, getting back with everybody, working as a team.”
Looking back at the first game, Harang said a key lesson was the need to listen to coaches.
“That was a big lesson for the whole team this game, listen to the base coaches,” she said.
Feldpausch seconded this.
“Once you hit it, pay attention to your coaches, they are one of the biggest parts… they have their eyes on the whole field,” she said.
To lighten the seriousness, both players said they enjoy a degree of goofiness on the field.
“We want to move as one body on the field, not as multiple different ones. We want to be cohesive. And a big one for me as the center fielder and the captain of the whole field is to be goofy. That’s a big one, to get inside jokes and make people smile because we have to remind ourselves it’s a game and that we’re here to have fun above all,” Harang said. “I like dancing in the outfield. I know I look goofy as heck.”
She added that when things are not going well, it’s easy for players to get down on themselves.
“We know what it’s like when we’re in the hole and everybody’s beating up on themselves and it isn’t pretty. You think that you’re self improving but you’re not… It’s best to be leading by positivity,” Harang said.
Feldpausch noted that a player’s harshest critic tends to be internal.
“Everybody’s biggest critic on the team is themselves,” she said.
She agreed with Harang that a sense of humor is necessary.
“If we’re coming in together, we try to goof around and make each other laugh. Because it’s a really down moment, nothing’s happening,” Feldpausch said.
She stressed the need to have fun on the field, particularly during a pandemic.
“Having as much fun as we can, because we never know what’s going to happen. The season could stop right in the middle,” Feldpausch said.
The coach also highlighted the performances of senior starting pitcher Makenna Smith and sophomore catcher Kaleena Tucker.
“Makenna pitched a great game. She is the returning state championship pitcher. She wanted to stay in. She just was begging to stay in and finish the game, but we were trying to save her arm… Kaleena – our sophomore catcher – she only had one or two passed balls as a sophomore, first time catching at a varsity game,” McCarty said.
Smith pitched five innings on Friday and notched four strikeouts.
Both the Wolves softball and baseball teams face off against Ketchikan this weekend, Friday and Saturday.
