Fall 2017 Preview: Cassville Softball

lauren-turner-cassville

By Matt Turer – mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer

There’s a lot to look forward to inside the area softball scene this fall, and Cassville belongs towards the top of that list.

The Wildcats look primed to improve on a 2016 season that brought them to the Class 3 District 12 championship, where they lost by a run to Monett in the bottom of the seventh. Expect them to challenge for that district title again. Cassville is led by one of the best pitchers in the region in senior Josie Lone and one of the best young hitters in junior Lauren Turner (SS), in addition to an experienced and skilled returning lineup.

“We’ve been focused on getting better and staying positive to help us reach our goals this season,” head coach Shawn Johnson said. “We have five seniors who all started last year and are looking to have a good season.”

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Lone is one of those seniors. She was 15-9 with a 1.53 ERA and 0.79 WHIP (lowest in the region) and struck out 211 batters in 171.1 innings in 2016. She no-hit Parkview early in the season, pitched six complete-game shutouts and finished 10 games with double-digit strikeouts. She also batted .394. Pretty good! And good enough for an all-region selection.

Still not a senior, Turner (all-region selection) began turning heads outside Cassville with a walk-off home run against Republic great Rachel Rook in the Springfield Invitational. She finished the season batting .479 with a 1.289 OPS, four home runs, 17 runs and 23 RBIs. Excellent numbers for any age, let alone a sophomore.

Seniors Kaylee Reibert (.386 AVG.), Audra Brooks (.401 AVG.), Josie Rose (.362 AVG.) and Trinity Ewing (.345 AVG.) will also be key and give this Cassville team extremely valuable depth in a Big 8 conference that will again be strong at the top with Monett and McDonald County returning some of the area’s top players.

Reibert, Brooks and Rose were all all-district selections.

Also returning are Adrien Lee (Jr.) and Madry McCrackin (So.). McCrackin saw some varsity time as a freshman.

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