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Sports

Young Mustangs Hope to Compete in Tough Suburban West Softball

The Marquette softball team has just one senior returning from a team which finished 12-14 last season.

Defense was the main focus for the Marquette softball team in pre-season practices.

"Last year we really struggled on defense at times," said Mustang coach Chris Meador, who begins his 10th season as Marquette manager. "When we played good defense we were able to beat good teams such as Parkway South. But when we played poorly on defense we lost to several teams we should have beaten."

The inconsistent defense has shown early in the 2011 season for the Mustangs. The defense was solid in the first game, which resulted in a victory over Pattonville.

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"We looked really good in that first game," Meador said. "But the defense resorted back to how me played last year and we lost games against Fort Zumwalt East and McCluer North. The whole key to our success will be how we respond defensively."

The Mustangs have a reliable pitcher in junior Emilee Skyles, who won five games last year with a 4.00 ERA. But she is not a power pitcher.

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"Emilee emerged as our No. 1 pitcher last year," Meador said. "She does not overwhelm you but she pitches with a lot of heart. Last year we averaged three, four or maybe five strikeouts a game and our walk to strikeout ratio was not what we would have liked. In year's past we have had the strikeout type pitcher which took away outs from the defense."

Marquette, which finished 12-14 last season and 3-5 in the tough Suburban West Conference, will be one of the youngest teams in the area this fall.

The Mustangs have just one senior, second baseman Chelsi Gonzalez, on the roster. Gonzalez is a four-year varsity player who will be a good leader to the young team.

Juniors Sydney Ozersky and Kristen Lee are returning starters who will be counted on to provide some offensive punch.

Ozersky, an outfielder who will also pitch, is the team's top returning hitter. She hit .345 last season with a pair of home runs.

Lee, who will play third base, also has some pop in her bat. She hit a long home run against Fort Zumwalt East this season.

Sophomore catcher Miranda Thompson is another top returning starter. She hit .323 and is good defensively.

"Fundamentally, Miranda is one of the better catchers you will see," Meador said.

The rest of the roster will be comprised of young and fairly inexperienced players.

"We are so young," Meador said. "We just want to be better in game five than game four, better in game six than game five and so on. We have a tough schedule so we will have a test every game. We are going to have to fight, scratch and claw to try to compete and win."

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