SHORELINE — Graduation and offseason injuries have triggered an avalanche of questions for the Shorewood softball team.
In addition to losing three senior starters and some key reserves, the Thunderbirds are missing two potential returners who sustained knee injuries over the winter.
“Our defense and offense will have to pick up to make up for what we lost,” senior shortstop Shannon Sullivan said. “But I think we’re doing that pretty well. Our offense is a lot better than it was last year and our defense is too.”
Shorewood is one of several Wesco 4A South Division teams inserting new pitchers into their lineups this season.
Four fresh arms are splitting time for the T-birds, who relied on all-league hurler Heidi Heric almost exclusively the past two seasons.
“Last year we had a pitcher that could strike out 10 or 12 batters a game. Now that’s not going to happen,” Shorewood coach Tom Rizzuto said. “We’re going to have to play good defense behind our pitching. Our current crop of pitchers don’t walk many people, they make them put it in play.”
Juniors Brianna DeVine and Jill Wyatt and sophomores Emily Davenport and Jackie Osborn make up Shorewood’s youthful staff. DeVine and Osborn saw limited varsity action last season.
“Right now we’re keeping them all at the varsity level,” Rizzuto said. “We’re trying to get them enough work so they’ll be effective.”
DeVine feels that each of the pitchers have their own distinct style.
“I’m left handed and they’re all righties,” she said. “We all have different strengths.”
Wyatt started Shorewood’s season-opener last week, striking out five in four innings and issuing no walks in a 7-3 non-league victory over Interlake. Osborn threw five scoreless innings in a 3-1 loss to Auburn-Riverside.
“We’ve worked really hard this spring to try and find which one or two are the best, but they’re all about even,” Rizzuto said. “They all want to do the job. The beauty of it is they can all play other positions.”
DeVine, Wyatt and Davenport will all see time at first base and Osborn is usually in right field when she’s not pitching. The T-birds also return senior Brianna Wartman and junior Ty Matthews in the outfield.
Sullivan and senior third baseman Angela DuBois give the T-birds a solid left side of the infield and provide some punch in the batting order.
Sophomore second baseman Carrie Bunstine fills the leadoff spot, followed by DeVine, Sullivan and DuBois. Sullivan hit .313 and led the T-birds with nine runs scored in 2003 and DeVine carried a .327 average and was second on the team with 19 hits.
“We’ve got some speed up front and a little power behind it,” Rizzuto said.
The past two seasons the T-birds have averaged just over two runs per game against Wesco South opposition. So far this spring, their bats have been much more active.
“We’ve been doing a lot of live hitting lately,” DeVine said. “That’s really helping us.”
Freshman Robyn Morton becomes just the fourth varsity catcher in Rizzuto’s 13 seasons at Shorewood. In her first two games, Morton successfully threw out all four runners attempting to steal second base.
“She worked real hard at getting stronger over the winter because she’s not a very big girl,” Rizzuto said. “She’s very good behind the plate.”
With a lineup that includes unproven pitchers, just three seniors and a handful of first-year starters, Shorewood’s playoff chances are unclear.
Rizzuto is confident the T-birds will come on strong as the season progresses.
“We’re young and we’re scrappy,” he said. “By the end of the season when the games really begin to count we’ll have a year under our belt and we’ll have more experience.
“Right now I think we can play with anybody. We’ll just have to score some runs off some good pitching.”
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