Caroline Penland is batting .452 with seven RBIs for the Asheville High softball team.
ASHEVILLE – Coach Richard Gabriel has spent a lot of afternoons working on situational drills with his Asheville High softball team.
He’ll stand at home plate and yell out how many outs there are, where the runners are and what the score is.
Then he’ll smack a ball somewhere.
The idea for this drill is simple and something the Cougars are still learning.
“You don’t wait until the ball is hit to you and try to decide,” Gabriel said. “You need to know before that play starts ‘If it’s hit to me, what do I do?’”
That’s easier for some of his players than others. The Cougars don’t have a feeder program and so the coach is still teaching these fundamentals late in the season.
He also has a team with seven sophomores, one junior and four seniors.
While their 3-11 record might not show it, the team has seen plenty of development.
“I think our year has gone a lot better than the other years,” said senior pitcher Amelia Gabriel, one of the coaches’ daughters on the team. “We’ve improved a lot.”
Her senior battery mate agrees.
“This year our team has improved the most of the past three years,” catcher Caroline Penland said. “You can see the major improvement from all the girls.”
Amelia Gabriel is one of four seniors for the Asheville High softball team.
These two seniors have been the backbone of the team for four years. Last season the Cougars won three total games and have been in closer contests this spring.
Earlier this week, Penland’s batting average was .452 with seven RBIs, while Gabriel was hitting a whopping .565 with five doubles. Penland leads the team with 14 hits and Gabriel is second with 11.
Another senior, Alexis Pickett, is hitting .320 and the fourth senior, Kali Crudup, has just recently returned from an injury suffered during basketball.
“I’ve put some high expectations out there and the girls have really responded,” the first-year head coach said.
“It’s a challenge. It’s about having fun out there, too. It’s a lot more fun if you feel like you’re making progress and getting better and having a little success.”
The progress shows in the sophomores who hope to continue the team’s development and increase its win total as the years progress.
Natalie Garbiel, another coach’s daughter, leads the seven sophomores with a .343 batting average.
“If this group of sophomores sticks with it, we’ll have high hopes for them,” Richard Gabriel said. “They’re growing every day. They just need a lot of experience and every time out there they get better and better because they are learning.”
That’s where those situational drills come back into play.
“Knowledge of the game is where they are behind,” he said. “You can build those skills but you have to have that knowledge with it. That’s a big part.
“If you don’t put them in those situations and practice them, they aren’t going to be able to do them in games. You just try to prepare them as much as you can. That game experience is always one of the best teachers. We try to use that as much as possible.”