DANVILLE — The excitement in the voice of Danville Area Community College softball coach Matt Cervantes can mean only one thing — it’s time to play ball.
The Lady Jaguars, who have won 144 games in the past four seasons and made two trips to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament in that time, will open their season this Friday at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga.
DACC returns four positional player starters and one of its starting pitchers from a team that went 34-15 a year ago.
So, how does Cervantes see this team?
“I feel like we’ve got a lot of grit, a lot of personality and a bunch of gym rats, to tell you the truth,’’ he said.
But, the Lady Jaguars graduated a second team All-American in pitcher/designated hitter Ryley Richey, who led the team in every pitching category and was the team leader in RBIs (52), doubles (20) and shared the home run honor (6) with returning first baseman Alyssa Acton.
“I don’t think you think of it in terms of replacing a Rylee Richey,’’ Cervantes said. “You just try to find good talented arms that are going to be able to develop and compete.’’
Sophomore Lauren Kehl, who went 9-7 in 23 games with a 4.56 ERA, will provide some experience in the circle for DACC to go along with five freshmen arms.
“Lauren Kehl was huge for us last year. She caught a groove late in the season and she was starting pretty much the first game of every doubleheader and was giving us a chance to win every time she went out there,’’ Cervantes said. “And then we have a slew of freshmen that move the ball really well and compliment her tremendously.
“That was one thing that (assistant coach) Kelley (Cervantes) and I tried to do this year. We were trying to find multiple girls that could come in and service a job, so that whenever we ran into trouble, we had options.’’
Cervantes points out that many of the top NCAA Division I programs, like defending National Champion Oklahoma, are using multiple pitchers.
“It’s great when you have that one or two pitchers that can do the job, but that’s a lot of pressure on them,’’ he said. “Having a lot of good arms will give you a well-rounded pitching staff.’’
Some of the key freshmen pitchers this season for DACC are Kenzie Fasig from Normal West, Jocelyn Peal from Kankakee Valley High School in Indiana, Dakota Harrison from Mt. Zion and Alex Brown from Villa Grove.
“Kenzie is kind of a power pitcher. We gave her a lot of the tough starts in the fall and she performed extremely well against the bigger schools,’’ Cervantes said. “Sometimes, it was rough but at the end of the day, I think she has grown a lot and learned her style of pitching.’’
Offensively, the Lady Jaguars are seemingly going to live up to their moniker.
Sophomore Gloria Richardson, who led the team in hits (59), runs (49) and stolen bases (30), is just one of speedy options that Cervantes will be inserting into his lineup this season.
The other fast options for Cervantes are freshmen Kaitlyn Drew from Villa Gove and Zoe Foxworthy from Fountain Central.
“Drew played high-level travel ball…she is a triple treat. She can bunt, slap and hit away,’’ he said. “She offers a lot of dynamic offense from the left side of the plate.
“Foxworthy is probably one of the fastest kids that we’ve had come through our program. That says a lot because, you know that we like to run.’’
Richardson and Acton, who led DACC in batting average (.397), were both first-team all-conference selections a year ago.
“We have a slew of kids that got a lot of playing time last year, a lot of experience that did really well,’’ said Cervantes, noting the other returners like Pallei Cripe, Molly Besser, Kaylee Kline and Kennedy VanBibbler.
DACC opens the season at No. 13 in the NJCAA Division II preseason poll and the Lady Jaguars will face one of its biggest tests in the opening game of the season.
Indian River State College, the No. 1 team in the NJCAA Division I poll and the defending National Champions, is the first opponent for DACC at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga.
“They were trying to get as many of the top JuCo programs in the country and they sought us out,’’ Cervantes said. “Getting to see Indian River is going to be huge for our girls. I know they are pumped to get down there and play.’’
The first home games for DACC will be March 13 at Winter Park against Illinois Central College.