The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
CHS Head Softball Coach Sara Laib works with Taya Lura on her swinging form during a practice session using a batting tee.
Kaydence VanRay fine-tunes her hand-eye coordination.
Seated behind a screen in the batting cage, Lauren Hendrickson feeds a ball into the pitching machine.
With Coach Sara Laib giving her pointers in the background, Tesslin Lura takes a mighty hack off the batting tee.
A new varsity sport will be taking the field for the Carrington Cardinals starting this spring.
For the first time, the Cards have a girls' softball program, under the direction of Head Coach Sara Laib and Assistant Coach Shelby Botha.
Laib, a Kindergarten teacher at Carrington Elementary, brings collegiate playing experience to her role, having been part of the women's program for four years at VCSU (Valley City State).
The Barnes County North graduate started her softball career during her junior year of high school, when the Bison co-oped with Valley City.
"It's an exciting opportunity to start something new, and we know we have a great group of girls that are up to the task," Laib said.
The first few weeks of practice have been spent indoors in the wrestling room's batting cage while the weather begins to thaw the ground for outdoor sessions.
While she doesn't quite know what to expect when they tentatively take the field for their first-ever game on April 11 against Pembina County North, the experience factor of her girls gives Laib cause to feel that they won't be entirely flat-footed.
"We have a few that have played in the summer rec program for a year or more," she says. "Also, there are some girls that have never played before, and are eager to learn."
Carrington has been placed in Region 2, where league rivals will be Dakota Prairie, Grafton, Langdon/Edmore/Munich, Larimore, May-Port-CG, PCN and Thompson.
Laib's long term goals are simple ones, and ones that can be achieved with the right amount of hard work and dedication.
"Our goal is to improve every day, be competitive, and win games."
Because the refurbished softball fields at City Park have not been finished as of yet, owing to the snowpack of the past winter making repairs nearly impossible, the Cards will be playing a strictly road schedule in their inaugural season.
All games are scheduled for 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. on their respective dates. The schedule for this spring is as follows:
April 11 PCN (V)
April 14 MPCG (JV/JH)
April 19 Grafton (V)
April 25 Dakota Prairie (V)
April 26 HWC (V/JV)
April 28 MPCG (V)
April 30 Wilton JV Jamboree (TBA)
May 2 Thompson (V)
May 6 Devils Lake (JV/JH)
May 9 Larimore (V)
May 12 L/E/M (V)
May 13 Jamestown (JV) @ McElroy Park
May 21, 23-24 Region 2 Tourney, Mayville
June 2-4 State @ Fargo
Facts about softball; local, Class B history of the sport
• Dimensions-wise, the field of play in softball is smaller than a regulation baseball diamond, with distances of 60 feet between bases as opposed to 90. The pitching rubber, enclosed in a non-elevated circle of an eight-foot radius, is 43 feet away from home plate (60'6" in baseball).
• The cozy dimensions also extend to outfield fences. Recommended girls' and women's fastpitch distances from home plate to the fence are 185 to 235 feet.
• The ball itself is bigger. A softball measures between 11.88 and 12.13" in circumference and weighs between 6 1/4 to seven ounces; a baseball measures between nine and 9 1/4" in circumference and weighs between five to 5 1/4 oz.
• Pitches are delivered in a rapid windmill-style motion, with the release point near the hip. Some of the hardest-throwing women's pitchers can release the ball at speeds near 77 miles per hour, and men's fastpitch deliveries have been clocked as fast as 105 mph!
In addition, because of the smaller distance between bases, runners are not allowed to steal until the ball has left the pitcher's hand.
• Softball has been a varsity sport in Class B only since the 2012 school year, three full years after it was instituted in Class A.
Since it began, the Central Cass Squirrels have won five state championships, and have appeared in every Class B state tournament from its inception. Kindred/Richland has three championships, and Enderlin/Maple Valley won the 2012 inaugural event. So far, they are the only three programs with titles.
• Area girls have had success playing the sport. 2017 Pingree-Buchanan graduate Mariah Wick was a member of the Jamestown High School team, earning All-State status, and played the sport for the University of Jamestown Jimmies.
• This past year's Miss Basketball, Abby Duchscherer of Kindred/Richland, will be attending the University of Alabama on a softball scholarship and playing for one of the top NCAA programs in the Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference (SEC.)
