By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

Nine members of the 2021 Hutchinson Community College softball team are still thinking "what-if."

About what?

One year ago, one of those special seasons was ulfolding for the Blue Dragons.

There was a perfect game on Opening Day. There were multiple players turning in extraordinary performances on a daily basis. There was Hutchinson's first win over Butler in 19 games. There was the fact that the Blue Dragons were in first place in the Jayhawk East with a 7-1 record on March 14 after a road sweep of Garden City.

And just like that … thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic … the season was over. The NJCAA halted all play in all sports for the remainder of the 2020 season.

"What If?"

"Those kids are fired up and ready to go," said head coach Jaime Rose, who begins her 17th season at Hutchinson with a record of 457-315. She is five wins shy of career win No. 500. "I can say the same thing about our freshmen, too. They all lost their senior seasons of high school ball and our returning kids lost a majority of their season. They are hungry."

For the two third-year players – infielder Caitlin Schumacher and outfielder Alexis Way – they look to finish what they started at Hutchinson.

"This would be validation for them," Rose said of Schumacher and Way. "We had an OK year when they were freshman. We definitely on the right path. For us to get in a full season for them and do well would be validation to them for coming back."

Schumacher has started all 66 games over the past two seasons. She is a .271 career hitter and was greatly improved as a defensive shortstop with an 89-point improvement in her fielding average. Way is a .365 career hitter with a .438 on-base percentage and 70 total hits in her two seasons at Hutchinson.

The Blue Dragons return seven position players and three pitchers from last year's 21-7 team.

Rose returns five starters in the field including her entire outfield and middle of the defense. She also has two starting pitchers in the fold and another out of was became a busy bullpen, by design.

"Trying to fit the pieces of this puzzle together will be interesting," Rose said. "We are going to be moving people in and out of the lineup more than we ever have. We have great depth."

Going into Friday's season opener against Fort Scott at Fun Valley, Rose knows only one thing for sure about her starting lineup … catcher Lexi Williams will lead off.

An All-Conference and All-Region VI performer, Williams hit .489 (44 for 90) with a .540 on-base percentage and .689 slugging percentage out of the leadoff spot. In addition to her speed down the line, Williams also hit three doubles, a staggering six triples and a home run. Her first stolen base of 2021 will break the Hutchinson school record. Williams was 29 of 29 as a freshman in just 24 games.

"She is so tough to defend," Rose said of her leadoff hitter. "You play back and her speed will kill you. You play up and she can hit it over your head. She is a very difficult out."

Returning in the infield is Schumacher at shortstop. She had sharply improved numbers in 2020 from her freshman season. Schumacher hit .300 with seven doubles and 21 RBIs. She also had a .976 fielding percentage. Utility player Natalie Bevan returns and will likely a lot of time at second base. Bevan hit .241 with 11 RBIs, but was perfect in 57 defensive chances as a freshman.

Way will patrol center field. She hit .339 in 2020, scoring 19 runs with six extra-base hits and five stolen bases. She also had two outfield assists.

Way will be flanked by Kylee Dunn in right field and Bailey Pennycuff in left field.

Dunn flew under the radar last season hitting out of the five hole and hit .473 with 35 hits, nine doubles, two triples and three home runs. She had 29 RBIs.

Pennycuff was the surprise of 2020, making both left field and the No. 9 slot in the batting order her own. Pennycuff hit .444 with 32 hits, including seven doubles and a homer, with 23 RBIs.

"Kylee was huge in the five hole protecting Maryssa Rollin last year," Rose said of Dunn. "People are going to give her a little more attention this year. She has the best eye of any batter I've seen. She does not chase bad pitches.

"Bailey is another leadoff hitter in the nine hole. She continually turned the lineup over and she had some huge RBIs in multiple games."

The Dragons return their lefty-righty combination in the pitcher's circle in southpaw Sadie Loney and right-hander Jordan Galliher.

Loney made 10 starts and 14 appearances last season. She posted a record of 5-3 with a 4.46 ERA. Loney struck out 26 in 48 2-3 innings.

Galliher twirled a perfect game in her Blue Dragon debut against Allen. She had five starts and nine overall appearances and had a record of 3-2 with a 4.70 ERA.

"The staff has that same field it did last year," said Rose of her pitching staff that posted a 4.28 team ERA with three shutouts. "All four of our pitches bring something different to the game so they will all complement each other, which is the same thing we did last year."

Sophomore Samarah Bailey worked only 5 1-3 innings out of the bullpen last season. Joining the pitching staff this season is freshman Miquela Guajardo.

With all that returning experience, what is a Blue Dragon freshman supposed to do to get playing time?"

"The freshmen are making it difficult … and that's a good difficult," Rose said." I can honestly say that every freshman we have has at some point stood out and showed us they can get the job done. We just didn't get to see them play against anybody else in the fall, but I'm confident that we can put any of those freshmen in at any time and we will be OK."