North softball players scatter following 4A Region II final ouster

It wasn’t long after McKinney North was eliminated from the Class 4A Region II softball final by Waco Midway that the realization of the end hit one Lady Bulldog square in the face.

Lindsay Collings, a junior pitcher for both North and the AXE Fastpitch Softball Club, took the field for a Memorial Day tournament with her select team and saw a familiar face across the diamond.

High school teammate Kathy Shelton was the fixation of Colling’s eyes as she warmed up for the Texas Glory. It was an uncomfortable sight for Collings, who had worked side-by-side with Shelton for the previous four months.

“She got there right at the start of the game, so looking across the field and seeing her in another uniform was just weird,” Collings said. “It didn’t feel right to see her in the other dugout in a red and white uniform.”

Only two days earlier Collings and Shelton held a 1-0 series lead against Midway and were one win away from taking North to the state tournament for the second-consecutive year. Unfortunately, the Lady Bulldogs never won that second game, as Midway rallied to win the next two and take North’s spot in Austin.

“My expectations, and of course mine are always higher than everyone else’s, was to get to state,” North head coach Dan Sedgwick said. “We fell a little bit short of that, but under the circumstances I’m not going to beat myself up over that.”

The circumstances Sedgwick was referring to was a collision in the second game against Midway that knocked his starting leftfielder and centerfielder out of the series, but the coach’s remarks could have also referred to the expectations that surrounded the team in January.

The Lady Bulldogs entered the season with a ton of questions about their pitching and chances of repeating as district champions. Instead of admitting its inadequacies, the roster made it a point to prove all those doubters wrong throughout the season.

“We all knew people didn’t think we could do it,” Collings said. “In our huddles we were always talking about proving people wrong.”

And North did a lot more than talk the talk. After many predicted they would have trouble making the playoffs, the Lady Bulldogs ran away with the district championship, finishing with only one loss in 14 games and three games ahead of second place. North finished with a 29-10-2 overall record and went five rounds deep in the playoffs.

“I couldn’t get anybody to tell me we could win district,” Sedgwick said. “I was shaking my head because I knew we had a ton of talent. I kept thinking this must be a tough district for us not to be the favorite.”

North proved its doubters wrong this season with an explosive veteran offense and the combination of smart pitching and an elite defense.

Collings and primary starter Ashliegh McLean helped the Lady Bulldogs limit 9-4A opponents to only 1.4 runs per game this season. North gave up more than four runs only once and recorded six shutout victories in 9-4A play. Meanwhile, the offense averaged more than nine runs per district game.

Even though the team proved its critics wrong this season, Sedgwick knows those same questions will rise again at the start of next season as Collings is expected to become North’s primary pitcher in 2009. That’s why he’s already preparing next year’s ace for another run at redemption.

“There are going to be a lot of people that say she can’t do it. I guarantee you that there will be,” Sedgwick said. “But what they don’t understand is that Ashliegh benefited from going through another summer. Lindsay’s going to come back as a better pitcher than what everybody thinks she is right now.”

Collings, who pitched well in limited opportunities this season, will have much of this season’s stout lineup back. While McLean, leftfielder Amanda Parsonage and second baseman Lindsey Post will graduate this summer, the few holes the team does have are already in good shape.

In addition to Collings, North’s new starters next year will have already seen some important time on varsity. Vanessa Baeza, who saw a ton of action this postseason, is expected to replace Post in the infield, while Lindsey Meyers will take over for Parsonage.

“We’ve got it covered,” Sedgwick said.

Those players will join a talented lineup that includes Shelton, the 2008 9-4A MVP, Tyler Burnside, the Offensive Player of the Year, and All-District selections Amy Kilpatrick, Meghan Knowles and Haley Wagner.

“I try to help kids understand, with a few exceptions, that they can do so much more than they think they can,” Sedgwick said. “I still believe Amy Kilpatrick, Meghan Knowles, Tyler Burnside and Sarah Becker are all Division-I calibur. They may not end up there, but I believe they’ve got it in them.”

And after what happened this year, Sedgwick is welcoming anyone that doubts him.

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