Lakewood keeping hopes high

Country music was blaring from the Lakewood softball diamond as the Lady Leopards were practicing hard, looking to turn their season around after a 1-5 start.

The Independent arrived to high spirits with the ladies fielding grounders and catching pop flies, honing their skills for the long season still ahead of them. Coach Chris Cashwell could be seen at the plate hitting grounders and fly balls to the team and critiquing how they respond, with a particular focus on getting their throws to first. Later on, he’d take the mound throw slow pitches, putting himself in the danger zone for some painful liners and ankle shattering grounders. He chuckled towards the end of the interview saying he had to dodge some of these missiles.

He took time out of his day to discuss the status of the Leopards and what he has seen needs to be worked on. He started out talking about how the bats had been a problem this season for the Leopards. In their first five contests, they batted in 12 runs, while allowing 64, resulting in a slew of blowouts. Cashwell mentioned they kicked back into it after they played Lejeune earlier that week, gaining their first win at 15-13.

Cashwell has praised his teams pitching and defensive play this season, despite the high scoring affairs they have found themselves in. With their long standing starting pitcher, Danica Carter, finishing out her senior year, he’s been working with new talent to help develop them into their leader on the mound. Not having an offense to help offset the high scoring has caused them grief this season. They’d return after to face Lejeune on the road and upped the production, batting in eight but took the loss by four runs at 12-8.

He spoke candidly about their goal to breach a .500 record and make an appearance at the state playoffs.