Wakeland Softball

5.5.11 - Winning Ways at Wakeland! The Frisco Wakeland baseball team is ranked #1 in north Texas; so is the softball team. Those teams have been very good, but not unique. They're just finishing what the other teams at Wakeland have started.

"A lot of the kids from other schools, we go around just talking trash -- fun stuff," says senior Haley Texada. "But at the end of the day it is kind of cool to say that our school is good at everything we do." Texada is not exaggerating. She played on the girls basketball team that went three rounds deep in the playoffs, a year after losing in the state championship game. The girls soccer team did win a state championship; the boys won it last year. The trophy cases are full, which is especially impressive, considering the school has been open five years.

"I think it's just the people they hired for the school are just the right people for the school," adds senior Tyler Kirkindoll, who was the quarterback of the football team that went 8-3. "They know how to interact with the kids, they know how to get them motivated, they know how to talk to them on game days to kind of get them ready."

The winning at Wakeland is total. Among the eight major team sports -- football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball and softball -- every one of those teams has a winning record. Put them all together, and it adds up to 208 wins, and 34 losses. And the softball and baseball teams are still going.

Kim Watson is the girls athletic coordinator and head volleyball coach. She says, "One thing when we first opened, coach Secord had our motto, 'when you play one of us, you play all of us.'"

Marty Secord has been the head football coach and boys athletic coordinator at Wakeland since the school opened. "I think more than anything else we just have a family. Everybody cares about each other. In a lot of schools, the male coaches and female coaches don't get along, that's not the case here."

Since opening in 2006, Wakeland has earned state championships in boys and girls soccer, and they have individual state champs in swimming and golf. This year, the baseball and softball teams have a chance, and so do a couple of the doubles teams in tennis.

"It is a special year and I think you have those years," says Watson. "But we're not naive enough to think it's going to be like this every year. We know we have to work year in and year out, and we push our kids day in and day out."

3.8.11 - Losing the most dominant player to ever come through the program has had a negligible impact on the Wakeland softball team. The Lady Wolverines have absorbed the departure of power pitcher Alexis Cantu and continue to churn out wins as if the UT-Arlington freshman was still in the circle. Entering Thursday night’s opener in the Frisco ISD Tournament, the Lady Wolverines were 12-2 overall and ranked fourth in the state in Class 4A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association. Equally contributing to Wakeland’s success has been the emergence of junior hurler Hannah Newcomb and a roster that contains a mix of experience and talented youth. Three freshmen are lending their abilities to a team that includes six returning starters from last season’s squad that advanced to the regional finals before a tough series loss to eventual state champion Waco Midway.

While some of the faces have changed, the expectations remain the same. The 2010 District 9-4A champs want to add more hardware to the collection. “It’s not going to be easy,” head coach Chris Southard said, “but we feel good about our chances to compete for a district championship.” Newcomb pitched roughly 30 innings a year ago and has been helped by the rule change moving the mound back a yard to 43 feet. A ground-ball thrower who pitches to contact, Newcomb keeps the ball down and allows the defense behind her to thrive. The Lady Wolverines boast a .970 fielding percentage and commit errors about as often as they lose. “[The rule change] has put a lot more emphasis on defense, which is certainly one of our strengths,” Southard said. “What I’ve noticed is there are a lot more balls in play. Hitters have more of a chance.”

Taking Cantu and Kelci Garza out of the middle of the lineup has forced Southard to revert back to an offensive style he used prior to coming to Wakeland. The Lady Wolverines are utilizing the sacrifice bunt more frequently than in years past and are emphasizing moving from station to station through the short game and steals. “We’re trying to get the same results through a different approach,” Southard said. So far, so good. Wakeland is averaging 7.6 runs per game and has posted double-digit totals six times. The offense is being dispersed through a number of players, from returners Tess Soefje, Darian Dunn, Monika Reichhardt, Brooke Cline, Jamie Ohm, Brittany Gehle and Ashley McDonald, to newcomers Emily Acuna, Jordan Swanner and Haley Hicks. Acuna, the starting second baseman, leads the team in sac bunts out of the two-hole, while Hicks has been turned into a slapper. “It’s been a good mix,” Southard said. “I think we’ve got a good core. They’ve got good chemistry.” Ohm (CF) and Cline (3B), the only two seniors on the team, have been to the regional semifinals or beyond every season at Wakeland. That type of quality experience is invaluable. “They’ve kind of passed that on to the young ones,” Southard said.

On the way to winning 85 percent of their games, the Lady Wolverines have pitched six shutouts and outscored the opposition by 80 runs. Wakeland went 6-0 to win the championship in a tournament in Southlake over the weekend and opens up its district title defense against Frisco on Tuesday.

2.15.11 - 2010-11 Texas Girls Coaches Association Softball Poll...

Class 4A
1.  Frisco Wakeland
2.  Elgin
3.  Corpus Christi Moody
4.  Montgomery
5.  Royce City
6.  Sherman
7.  Rockwall
8.  Brenham
9.  Port Lavaca Calhoun
10. New Braunfels Canyon