By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield softball team had a subpar 5-15 season last year and exited in the first round of the WIAA playoffs.
The Tigers are expecting to be better this season and what better place to start their road to success than in sunny Florida.
The Tigers will embark on a trip to the Sunshine State on Sunday to play four games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at DisneyWorld in Kissimmee from Tuesday through Friday next week.
The Marshfield baseball team has been to Florida during spring break recently, but this will be the first trip for the softball team and coach Mike Voss.
“It seems like the last few springs we’d play the first two or three games before we even practiced outside on the field,” Voss said. “I thought it would be a good spring to try it.”
The unusually nice weather at home has allowed the Tigers some outdoor practice time in advance of the trip, one that Voss hopes will help bring his 2010 team together.
“One o f things I look forward to is getting on the field this early in the year and getting to working on some things,” Voss said. “We’ll be able to get some game experience under us with four early games. Being down there for a week, we’ll be around the softball field for the majority time, a good four hours a day whether we are playing or practicing.
“I really want the girls to experience a facility like that and it’s an opportunity on the field and off the field to make us closer as a team, bonding together, working together. I really want the players to have fun and get to know each other that much better.”
The Tigers return six full-time starters, some of whom have been starters for three or four years.
Back is Wisconsin Valley Conference batting champion Andie Varsho, a senior who will be taking her softball skills to Purdue University and the Big Ten next year.
Varsho hit .543 in conference games last year and will return to her spot in center field.
Her sister, sophomore Taylor Varsho, was third on the team in hitting last year (.368) as a freshman catcher, and will have a shot to become the starting shortstop this year for Marshfield.
Junior pitcher Rhiannon Baierl also returns after starting each of the Tigers’ 12 games last year and finishing with an ERA of 7.00. Baierl also hit .500 in WVC games.
Voss said Baierl has been working hard during the offseason, along with three other pitchers that could provide Marshfield with some depth on the mound, something it didn’t have last year.
Junior Kristen Kniech, who will start at third base, and sophomores Scout Meyer and Kelsey Kuehnhold will be vying for backup spots as pitchers. At least one of the sophomores will have a chance to pitch in Florida.
“All four of them have been spending time in the gym throwing,” Voss said. “Last year we didn’t have depth as far as pitching was concerned, didn’t have anything to fall back on. This year we’ll be able to find one or two girls to take that backup spot.”
Lindsey Duerr (.300) returns at second base, Haley Umhoefer (.263) is back in left field and Becky Boening (.179) returns in right field for the Tigers.
Raelynn Wingert (.278) also will return to the starting lineup either at catcher or shortstop.
“Last year a lot of those girls got to play a lot, we lost quite a few seniors the year before,” Voss said. “They had a slow start with the inexperience and facing that type of pitching. We’re hoping with a year of experience, they are that much more confident and more comfortable.”
The Tigers will take on three teams from Ohio while at Disney, kicking off with a game Tuesday morning against Dublin-Scioto High School. Marshfield plays a doubleheader Wednesday night against Kettering Fairmont and wraps up the trip with a game against West Geauga on Friday, April 2.
Marshfield’s first game in Wisconsin is scheduled for April 9 at Black River Falls and the Tigers open their home schedule with their annual Marshfield Invitational on April 17.
“From what I can tell so far, one of the things that works to our advantage, is that the girls knew we are going to Florida, so they’ve got to be ready to go and put more time in because of it. A lot of them were working on it last fall and picked it up again later this winter with open gyms.”
Paul Lecker can be reached by e-mail at paul@marshfieldareasports.com.
