June 25, 2018 By Chris Varney
It has been a dramatic run for a raging Montezuma softball team the last two seasons. The Bravettes refused to go gentle into the good night as they made some improbable runs in the post-season, breaking through to the state tournament for the first time in school history last year. This year, however, wise men are saying that the Montezuma light is flickering out.
Monte is currently 10-8 on the season but wins have been harder to come by. Despite returning everybody but one player, the Bravettes are not the same team, which might frighten even Dylan Thomas.
The problem this year for the most part has been offense. Montezuma is batting only .219 as a team which is last in the SICL West and 12th worst among all Class 1A teams. Hanna Jones average has tumbled 147 points, going from .411 to .263. She is not the only one. Olivia Moretz is down 131 (.290 to .159), Jazmine Lebahn is down 119 (.262 to .143), Maddy McKeag is down 104 (.300 to .196), Breck Goodman down 61 (.242 to .191) and Makenna Carl is down 35 (.255 to 220). The team’s on base percentage is 48 points and the slugging percent is down 99 points. Shelby Helm is the exception, trying to pick up the load, leading the Bravettes with a .418 average, which is up from a .336 clip a year ago. Monte also misses catcher Cassidy Watts which provided veteran leadership behind the plate and was the team’s clean-up hitter.
There is good news, however. Hanna Jones continues to be an ace starting pitcher, with a 2.59 ERA. Freshman Kailey Jones has been better in the #2 spot, going from a 4.05 to a 1.57 ERA and has helped take some of the load off her older sister. Head Coach Jeremy Van Zee says the defense has been solid — the numbers show he is right. Only 24 errors in their first 18 games. That’s 1.3 per game as opposed to 2.7 a year ago.
Montezuma has had some close games this year — 6 of their 8 losses have come by 4 runs or less. They have not been beaten by more than 7 runs this season. They are staying in games and Van Zee says if they would just a key hit here or there, the record might be better by as many as 5 games.
Monte will be a scary team to play next week. They won a lot of close games in last year’s regional games before smacking Lynnville Sully and Ft. Dodge St. Edmond to advance to state. They have everybody back from last years except for Watts. They know how to win. After a first round game with HLV, which is no cake walk, it will be either New London or English Valleys and then probably Sigourney in the semifinals. It is very certain that the Savages do not want to face Montezuma in that type of match-up, even though it will be in Sigourney.
The bottom has not fallen out of the Bravette tub just yet. This team will not go quietly into the good night in 2018.
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