Gaston College softball completes historic inaugural fall drills with eye on the future
When Gaston College began its softball program in the 2021-22 season, head coach Mike Steuerwald faced an uphill challenge simply fielding a team.
Eventually, the Rhinos would have 13 players for all of parts of last year's historic team.
With a full recruiting cycle for freshmen and transfers from other schools, Steuerwald and his staff of assistant coaches Lani Ries, Jessica Beck and Bethany Doty had a roster large enough to complete a 12-game fall schedule last weekend.
"It was great to get out on the field," said Steuerwald, whose team held practice sessions at Gaston County's Biggerstaff Park in Dallas. "For our transfer students, it was similar to what they had experienced before. For our incoming freshman, it was an eye-opener.
"And we played really well at some points."
Catcher Jailyn Tineo, a transfer from North Carolina A&T, led the offense with a .475 average, five doubles, two home runs and 21 RBIs. Other top offensive contributors were freshman Tessa Hunt (.389 average), Gardner-Webb transfer Asheton Queen (.289 average, 12 runs, 5 doubles) and returnee Serena Yalich (1 home run in 4 games).
On the pitcher's mound, freshman Amiya Tomlinson hurled a team-high 38 innings and Hunt had a team-best 3.12 ERA.
"We were able to move some people around and put them in spots that'll give us a chance to know where we are in the spring," Steuerwald said. "Even when we had people that weren't healthy and were down to nine or 10 at practice, we still got a lot done and got a lot of reps and a lot of work in.
"From a team standpoint, it helped give us a chance to scrimmage and put the team in live situations."
Gaston College will continue offseason training before officially resuming on-field practice on Jan. 16 as it prepares for a 2023 exhibition game at Belmont Abbey on Feb. 6 and the 2023 regular season opener against Patrick & Henry Community College on Feb. 11 at Gastonia's CaroMont Health Park.
The Rhinos have a 50-game schedule with most of its home games at that Gastonia venue that is the permanent home of the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
And after being a club team in its inaugural season a year ago, Gaston College will be eligible to compete for the Region 10 Division I softball title this season.
"We're miles ahead of where we were last year," Steuerwald said. "This fall schedule has been really helpful simply because we're not coming into the season with everything starting from scratch."