Lady Eagles Keep It Light, Loose As Season Approaches

If Sullivan’s softball team is feeling the pressure of defending their Class 3 state championship, they are doing an excellent job of concealing it.

The team was downright jovial on the practice field Monday morning, five days before their first scrimmage and less than two weeks before the season begins. The music was blaring, girls were dancing, making jokes and cracking each other up.

Head coach Ashley Crump enters her 15th season at the helm of the program and she said the team is totally relaxed.

“I don’t feel there is any pressure,” said Crump, who guided the Lady Eagles to the school’s first-ever team title over Savannah last October. “It’s completely gone.”

Many of the players that contributed to four Final Fours in five seasons have passed through the program and now compete at the collegiate level, but as they say, tradition never graduates and the team’s goals never change.

“Our goal is always the same: play to the last day you can,” she said. “Our goal is still to win districts and make a postseason run.”

The girls were “light, loose and having fun” through the first seven practice sessions, Crump said. There is a lot of competition and it’s creating excitement.

Four new freshmen — Evvie Blankenship, Ava DeClue, Molly Lohden and Dorie Richardson — have entered the fray.

All four played competitively during the summer and they bring a lot of utility to the lineup.

“They have allowed us to have more defensive combinations,” Crump said.

So far, the defensive prowess on display from the entire team has been the highlight.

“The kids are making some fun plays…some spectacular plays,” Crump said.

Junior Jaedin Blankenship opens the season as the team’s No. 1 starter. Blankenship piggybacked off Hanna Johanning last season, coming in as the team’s closer of sorts. She didn’t allow a single run in three postseason games and hurled 4.2 scoreless innings in the Class 3 title game.

Behind her is Blankenship, Lohden and DeClue, who all figure to get opportunities in the circle.

Crump said the pitching won’t overpower opposing teams, but the defense can make plays.

Sullivan graduated Johanning, one of their most potent bats, but Riley Branson, Kayla Ulrich and Sophia Weirich are back. All three batted over. 400.

Ulrich was the ultimate masher — swatting seven homers, 15 doubles and four triples. She hit .452 and slugged .925.

Crump will give the others a chance to find their roles right up to the district tournament.

“We might have players fighting for a spot all the way to districts,” she said. “That’s exciting.”

Sullivan hosts Marquette and Incarnate Word for a Jamboree on Friday.

They begin the season Friday, Aug. 27 in the Peoples Bank Back To School Classic.