Fillies’ pitcher Sierra Snavely felt the nerves before her varsity debut on Thursday night in Chanute.
Iola softball coach Chris Weide could relate to what his freshman pitcher was experiencing going into her first varsity game. Weide was going through the same type of emotions in his head coaching debut.
“On the way down on the bus, I had a few butterflies, too,” Weide said. “I was talking to (baseball coaches) Coach (Mark) Percy and Coach Taylor and getting a little advice.”
The first game did not go the way either first-timer had planned. The Fillies fell behind early and the Blue Comets piled on and cruised to a 13-3 win over the shell-shocked Fillies.
“We just came out with a lot of butterflies and jitters,” Weide said. “The players didn’t know what to expect from me.”
The key for Weide then became seeing how his young group of Fillies would respond to the adversity of their first loss in the season. The coach certainly didn’t want to sit with that game one feeling in the pit of his stomach for long.
Snavely made sure her coach didn’t have to.
“It was something that everyone wanted,” Snavely said. “First-game jitters, everyone’s got those. Even though I’ve played for quite a while, I still get them every game.”
The freshman — who is a veteran of the area club softball scene — responded with a performance that should give Fillies’ fans hope for both this season and the future.
“We’ve definitely got team unity going on,” Snavely said.
Snavely threw a complete game and allowed only one earned run as the Fillies downed the Blue Comets 6-2.
“She pitched how we expect her to pitch that second game,” Weide said. “We know she is going to be solid. She has three or four pitches and if we move them around in locations for her and change it up for the batters, she is going to be successful.”
The Fillies’ roster — which is stocked with young players — saw key contributions from all classes, not just their star freshman.
“After they got those first-game jitters out of the way and settled down they really played Filly softball,” Weide said.
Junior Sydney Wade, senior Ashlie Shields and sophomore Chloe Gardner led the lineup from their 1-2-3 spots. The trio scored five of the Fillies’ six runs.
“We told the girls that we have so much speed on this team and if they can get on the basepaths, we are going to move them around,” Weide said.
