Junior A. Fabiano
April 7, 2009
Willard John Kraemer Jr.
April 9, 2009
Hall-of-Fame college basketball coach John Wooden once said, “The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move.”
Surely, the former UCLA coach has never met the Nicholls softball team, but that same philosophy is what sparked the Colonels to their 26-13 start and has propelled them into first place in the Southland Conference.
After coming one run shy of winning the conference tournament last season, head coach Jenny Parsons’ team came into this season with one goal in mind – make it to the NCAA Regionals.
Certainly the Lady Colonels are in for a challenge. Last year, the team caught the conference off guard with an unexpected run at the conference title. This season, it’s not likely Nicholls can sneak up on anyone. However, the coach said her team has responded well to the stepped-up competition.
When looking for the source of the success, it’s easy to point to the mound. The performance of juniors Lacey Gros and Audrey Wood has surely been key to the Colonels’ strong season thus far.
But there is one more asset that Parsons believes is the reason for her team’s solid start – leadership.
Whether it’s on the field or off, the coach said all of her players have established themselves as leaders.
It’s not that previous teams didn’t have it, Parsons said. This year’s team has shown more signs of it.
The biggest leaders on the team are the three seniors who have waited for four years to carry the torch of Nicholls softball. Now that they have that chance, they’re making the most of their opportunity on what is a relatively young team.
Second baseman Danielle Clayton, outfielder Kodi Butler and catcher Haley Burkett have been the true field generals for the Colonels this season, according to the coach.
Combined, they have blasted three home runs and have batted in 22 of the Lady Colonels’ 106 runs.
In the field, they’ve helped spark the team behind Gros’ and Wood’s pitching.
“They’ve all done a really good job of being leaders,” Parsons noted. “They want to win and they say things differently than I say. I get emotional and start yelling. They say, ‘Calm down, let’s have some fun.’ That’s what being a leader on the field is all about. That’s all I really want them to do is just play hard.”
“Their attitude just rubs off on the entire team. They understand the opportunity we have with our record. It’s a huge opportunity for us to do something special with this team,” she added.
In her final, season Clayton said she feels as though it is her duty to be a leader on the field.
She believes this is the most complete team she has been a part of in her years as a Lady Colonel.
“We’re coming together really good,” Clayton explained. “Last year we had a very good team but everyone is so athletic this year. Right now, everyone on our team can basically play every position. We’re gelling together so lovely, it’s great.”
And the Colonels aren’t ready to let the momentum die off anytime soon. Clayton said she and the other two seniors feel as though it is their job to keep the energy up.
“We have a lot of young energetic girls and there is a lot of leadership in everybody,” she said. “Each person has such high expectations for themselves and we all have the same goal to reach the College World Series. I don’t think that we are going to stop until we get there. I definitely want to go out with a bang and so far we are definitely doing that.”
For Parsons, that goal may not be as farfetched as most people think.
The most important thing for the team to do, she said, is to finish equally as strong as they have started. She explained how intensity plays a large part in achieving that feat.
“We’re taking things one game at a time,” she said. “I just had a talk with them about our record and where we stand. It’s April and we have an opportunity to win a lot more games. If you’re looking at NCAAs and things like that, we’re in a good spot. I thought we were a little lackadaisical at times, but if we can come out with the same intensity for every game, we’re going to do great things.”
Senior Danielle Clayton tries to drive a ball down the line. Clayton is one of three seniors on this year’s Nicholls State team that has helped the Colonels remain atop the Southland Conference standings by providing leadership both on and off the field. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
