Highlanders look to build for future
Piedmont High School’s softball team is coming off of a season where the Highlanders went 14-11 and made it to the second round of the North Coast Section Division 4 playoffs.
Gone are several key players, but with a couple of key returning players and several talented newcomers, coach Gene Denard is looking to match that success.
“We’re very young, short on experience, but the one thing is that the ladies are eager to learn,” Denard said.
Denard said he had another young team two years ago that developed into the group that got to the second round last year.
“I believe this team is more athletic than two years ago,” he said.
Freshman Talia Pearl is likely going to be the No. 1 pitcher.
“She’s going to be nice for the future,” Denard said. “Just got to build her up, get her a little stronger, build up more confidence with her. I want to give her some more time to build up more confidence.”
Sophomore Edie Elmquist spent the fall as quarterback for the football team. She’s capable of pitching but Denard wants her to anchor the defense at shortstop.
“I need Edie to play shortstop, that’s when we’re going to be our strongest,” he said. “When we had to take Edie off of short (in a game against Justin-Siena-Napa), up the middle was a little suspect. We’ve got to find some young ladies that want to step up for that challenge when Edie has to pitch.”
Sophomore Hannah Joerger and junior Kajsa Benson will also see time on the mound.
Elmquist and catcher Joerger are keys in the lineup. Denard said he’s trying to decide whether to have them hit 1-3, 1-2 or 2-3 in the batting order.
“Offensively. I think this is the first year of us trying to find out who we are as an offensive team,” he said. “It’s going to depend a lot on Edie and Hannah. They are veterans, they played last year with that group, hopefully they can carry us as far as they can.”
Freshman Rosemary Dickinson has shown some offensive punch early on.
“She’s somebody I’m looking forward to helping us out,” Denard said.
Junior Hanley Carling and sophomore Teah Suhr will be contributors in the outfield.
“We’ve just got to develop some arm strength and more softball knowledge and we’ll be OK,” Denard said. “Edie and Hannah and Benson and Hailey Navarro are the only ones coming back from last year’s squad that have that playoff experience.”
He said that making that second round game in the NCS playoffs would be a reasonable goal.
“That’s a big reach for this team but it’s doable,” Denard said.