By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
GOWER - East Buchanan was arguably the most dominant softball team in the region last fall.
The Bulldogs ran the table in the regular season, going 22-0 heading into the district championship.
It was there that Hamilton pulled off a 5-0 upset and stopped the Bulldogs short of winning back-to-back district titles.
East Buchannan has since lost all-state and all-district pitcher Erin McPike, along with other starters in all-district honorees Kylie Clark and Lou McClelland, along with Ally Kerns.
The Bulldogs do, however, return five seniors in all - four of whom are four-year starters.
Head coach Lindee Horn, entering her fourth year at the helm, is excited to return a lot of starters. She’s also eager to see some younger players step into big roles.
"I do have a lot of starters back," Horn said. "But, I do have a lot of young kids who are going to have to step in who haven't played any varsity. So, we're going to have to have some kids step in and do some other roles and kind of pick up where we left off and hopefully kind of just flow into it."
Among those returning is senior and first baseman Faith Dryer, who batted .329 last year and had three home runs.
She says the key to making another run toward state really starts with just nailing down the basics.
"It's all about going back to the fundamentals," she said. "Fielding the ball, hitting the ball, and I think if you set that standard, everybody just follows."
Another key returner is senior shortstop Hannah Archdekin - an all-state infielder who batted a team-best .587 last fall. She cites the team's tight bonds and hard work in the offseason as reasons to believe that the Bulldogs will be contenders again.
"We're just a sisterhood," Archdekin said. "We've known each other for years, and many of us play outside of high school, and we just have a chemistry that most teams don't have."
Coach Horn is also starting to notice a dedication to the offseason work ethic, which she hasn't seen with many other teams she's coached before.
"My first few years here, we'd have five show up at a (summer) workout," Horn said. "Well, this year I had no less than 12 every day. And, you know, it's all optional. It's not mandatory. So, it's cool to see that they actually want to put the time in. They want to put in the work to get better and to keep our program where it is now."
East Buchanan has a jamboree at Savannah on Saturday. The Bulldogs will then take part in the North Platte varsity round robin on August 28.
This will mark the first year that East Buchanan takes part in a softball jamboree. That may seem like a minor thing, but Horn is excited to get an early gauge on how her team is progressing.
"It's going to be something where we can go and say, 'Hey, these things are good, but we still need to still need to work on these things,'" she said. "And, we'll still have five days of practice to be able to do so. So, I am looking forward to that.
"They have been working hard, but there's still a lot of things they need to work on. Like I said, getting those young kids into the routine and just into the way that we do things."
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