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Mar. 31—MITCHELL — The Mitchell High School softball team hopes the third time's the charm in the program's goal to reach the Class AA state tournament.
The Kernels' season has ended in the SoDak 16 round each of their first two years of South Dakota High School Activities Association-sponsored softball, falling to Sioux Falls O'Gorman last year after jumping out to leads in each of the first two innings.
The disappointment of ending each year just shy of qualifying for state has made the players on the roster more determined to get there, according to first-year head coach Chaydon Reichelt, attributing the mentality to the growth of a team filled with familiarity.
"It's something all these girls are really hungry for and we want to do it," Reichelt said. "We're another year older. We've had a younger team from the beginning and our girls are starting to become even more of leaders."
Reichelt, whose maiden name is Metzger, succeeded Kent Van Overschelde as the head coach of the softball program after spending the past season as an assistant coach. As a player, she was an all-conference selection three times at West Lyon High School (Iowa), and appeared in 61 games for Dakota Wesleyan, collecting 16 runs batted in.
While she wants to help the players find a balance between knowing when to be selective at the plate and jumping at the opportunity to put runs on the board, Reichelt ultimately wants to facilitate strong relationships with the players and help them grow into stronger individuals, not limited to the diamond.
"My favorite part of working with kids and working with all these girls is building the relationships with all of them," Reichelt said. "My number-one priority is these young women that we're trying to make into better people, not just better athletes."
Reichelt inherits a team mostly of returning individuals, including 13 letterwinners. The Kernels finished with an 8-12 record and sported a .303 batting average with 121 runs scored, improvements from 2023 when the team was 5-14, batted .292 and scored 107 times.
Macey Linke returns as the top player at the plate, having batted .495 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 2024. Matteah Graves (.390 batting average, 14 RBIs) and Mallory Miedema (three home runs, 18 runs scored) are the other players to appear in all 20 games last season who hit north of .300.
Rylee Jennings returns as the team's primary pitcher after logging 89.2 innings, collecting 68 strikeouts in 19 appearances (17 starts). However, much of the focus at the start of practice is on refining fundamentals on defense for a team that posted only an .850 fielding percentage last season.
"We need to stay focused and look at where we are throwing (on defense) and just stay confident," Miedema said. "I know sometimes we can get a little low, but I think we just need to stay positive the whole time."
With several games scheduled at the start of the season, Mitchell looks to maximize its efficiency on the field, which everyone on the roster knows it'll take time as games set in. Ultimately, both the players and coaches will be learning about what each other is capable of, with the idea of being flexible in order to create the best experience possible.
"There are going to be mistakes made by everybody," Reichelt said. "I've told them to just be flexible. Hopefully, they can take away how we can make our team even better with who we have and make sure we're a close-knit team before we're really good individual players."
Mitchell's season is scheduled to begin against Brookings on Thursday, April 3.
Continue reading...
The Kernels' season has ended in the SoDak 16 round each of their first two years of South Dakota High School Activities Association-sponsored softball, falling to Sioux Falls O'Gorman last year after jumping out to leads in each of the first two innings.
The disappointment of ending each year just shy of qualifying for state has made the players on the roster more determined to get there, according to first-year head coach Chaydon Reichelt, attributing the mentality to the growth of a team filled with familiarity.
"It's something all these girls are really hungry for and we want to do it," Reichelt said. "We're another year older. We've had a younger team from the beginning and our girls are starting to become even more of leaders."
Reichelt, whose maiden name is Metzger, succeeded Kent Van Overschelde as the head coach of the softball program after spending the past season as an assistant coach. As a player, she was an all-conference selection three times at West Lyon High School (Iowa), and appeared in 61 games for Dakota Wesleyan, collecting 16 runs batted in.
While she wants to help the players find a balance between knowing when to be selective at the plate and jumping at the opportunity to put runs on the board, Reichelt ultimately wants to facilitate strong relationships with the players and help them grow into stronger individuals, not limited to the diamond.
"My favorite part of working with kids and working with all these girls is building the relationships with all of them," Reichelt said. "My number-one priority is these young women that we're trying to make into better people, not just better athletes."
Reichelt inherits a team mostly of returning individuals, including 13 letterwinners. The Kernels finished with an 8-12 record and sported a .303 batting average with 121 runs scored, improvements from 2023 when the team was 5-14, batted .292 and scored 107 times.
Macey Linke returns as the top player at the plate, having batted .495 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 2024. Matteah Graves (.390 batting average, 14 RBIs) and Mallory Miedema (three home runs, 18 runs scored) are the other players to appear in all 20 games last season who hit north of .300.
Rylee Jennings returns as the team's primary pitcher after logging 89.2 innings, collecting 68 strikeouts in 19 appearances (17 starts). However, much of the focus at the start of practice is on refining fundamentals on defense for a team that posted only an .850 fielding percentage last season.
"We need to stay focused and look at where we are throwing (on defense) and just stay confident," Miedema said. "I know sometimes we can get a little low, but I think we just need to stay positive the whole time."
With several games scheduled at the start of the season, Mitchell looks to maximize its efficiency on the field, which everyone on the roster knows it'll take time as games set in. Ultimately, both the players and coaches will be learning about what each other is capable of, with the idea of being flexible in order to create the best experience possible.
"There are going to be mistakes made by everybody," Reichelt said. "I've told them to just be flexible. Hopefully, they can take away how we can make our team even better with who we have and make sure we're a close-knit team before we're really good individual players."
Mitchell's season is scheduled to begin against Brookings on Thursday, April 3.
Continue reading...
