Gaston College begins fall softball drills

Gaston College began fall softball drills last week and coach Mike Steuerwald couldn't be happier.

Having a full roster after last year's start-up season will do that for Steuerwald and his coaching staff of Lani Ries, Jessica Beck and Bethany Doty.

"I love it from a coaching standpoint," said Steuerwald, whose team has been having drills at nearby Biggerstaff Park in Dallas. "Having 18, 19 players around our coaching staff on a day-to-day basis is so much more fun than last year when we had seven or three or four or lesser numbers at practices.
"It just makes for better energy, better competition and just a lot better flow."

The Rhinos open their fall schedule against travel team Cage 2 Stage in a Sept. 24 1 p.m., doubleheader at Gastonia's Martha Rivers Park. Gaston College later plays another travel teams in addition to facing four-year schools Belmont Abbey, Mars Hill, Guilford, Gardner-Webb, Carolina University of Winston-Salem, UNC Wilmington and Limestone.

"From a coaching and scheduling aspect, my goal is two-fold," Steuerwald said. "I want to play some travel teams that will give us an opportunity to see some kids and compete. And then the other aspect is that I want to play four-year schools in order to market our players as well as possible.
"I want to take them to these college campuses that they might be interested in and play in front of coaches to see if they might be interested in and showcase their ability."

With a limited roster a year ago, Gaston College fielded a club team that had a 4-16 overall record.

This season, Steuerwald has brought in a roster filled almost completely with newcomers.

A fall focus will be on the pitching staff; Six newcomers are currently getting practice repetitions.

"Our group is really competitive right now from (Lydia) Poovey to (Carson) Upton to (Tessa) Hunt to (Amiya) Tomlinson to (Brantleigh) Parrott. We may use Parrott more in the outfield and use her as a closer. But those are in the mix for a lot of innings."

Elsewhere, Steuerwald has high hopes for newcomers Braley Hamilton and Haylee Salter, Gardner-Webb transfer Asheton Queen, North Carolina A&T transfer Jailyn Tineo.

"Defensively, Hamilton, Queen, Tineo and Salter are going to need to be four big contributors for us if we're going to be good this year," Steuerwald said. "Braley is by far our best athlete. She's a catcher but she can play anywhere in the infield and left field in the outfield unless we bring Parrott in to pitch and we're slide her over to center field. She's going to have to be good for us to be good.
"We're just most excited about the athleticism we have on the field this year. We feel like we're two and sometimes three deep in every spot."