Lansing softball an unexpected power

Lansing softball is experiencing a big turnaround. After several challenging years including the previous two winless seasons, the Bobcats began their season winning their first seven games. Lansing has done so in impressive fashion, scoring nearly 50 more runs than their opponents so far.

The most promising aspect of this hot start is that there are only three seniors on the team, which indicates that the program is positioning itself to be a force in Section IV for years to come under head coach Pete Walker. The young players are being led by three impactful seniors, Kiki Lovejoy, McKayla Burke-Walsh and Genevieve Williams. Walker first described how important Lovejoy has been.

“This year, she’s just come out of the box just throwing heat and mixing in changeups and has just been a dominant force on the team,” Walker said. “She has been named one of our captains for her leadership skills. She’s been amazing. She’s leading the team in every aspect of the offensive side. She has the highest batting average and the best RBI and has been now switched to our leadoff hitter because her on-base percentage is ridiculous.”

Walker went on to praise Burke-Walsh, who hadn’t played in two years and has been nearly flawless as a catcher this season, and Williams, who is reaching base over 40% of the time. On the other side, Walker touched on what it means to have the amount of young talent that the Bobcats have.

“It is very exciting,” Walker said. “Looking ahead into the next season and the season after, the entire
coaching staff is extremely excited. We have a great group of girls, a talented group of girls, girls who have bought in and are all in for softball in Lansing and want to bring Lansing back to the top. They want to make us a team that is feared again in the conference.”

Wins were a rarity over the past few seasons for Lansing, and now the Bobcats are sitting atop the IAC. That kind of sudden shift can change the reputation of a program quickly.

“For a while there, Lansing was kind of a roll-over team,” Walker said. “Teams came in knowing that they were probably going to beat us and that it was going to probably be a not so difficult win. But we want them to come in and worry about us now. I think teams are starting to get that feeling again now that we’re winning.”

Walker discussed what has led to the success this season from a coaching perspective.

“They buy into our philosophy of getting out and putting the extra work in,” he said. “Not just taking a day-by-day approach, but looking forward to the next game or the next play or the next week, and how we can develop and be better. We always take away a positive from a game and then we take away something in the game or something in a practice that we can work on to be better. It doesn’t matter how small it is or how large it is.”

Lansing had to put extra work in to take down Trumansburg on Friday, May 14, winning 9-8 in 10 innings to improve to 6-0. Walker knows his team is capable of digging deep to pull out tough victories like that.

“That’s another philosophy that we use during practice and leading up to the season, the game’s not over in the first inning,” Walker said. “The game’s not over after the other team scores one run against us. We’re looking for more than one base out of the box. That’s something we preach every day. Don’t just settle for one base, let’s look for two. Let’s see if we can make something happen. The girls are buying into it.”

With a Section IV tournament scheduled to take place this season, the hot start has Walker’s eyes on the prize.

“From day one, we said we’re going to be division and IAC champs and we’re not going to settle for second-best,” Walker said. “If we get beat by a better team, then we tip our caps and we’ll make the adjustments to make sure that doesn’t happen next time. We believe and the team believes that we are going to be successful and Section IV champs. There’s no doubt about it. We have the team. We have the ability. We’re ready to go.”

The Bobcats have yet to be beaten by a better team this season, standing at 7-0 heading into a Wednesday game against Whitney Point. If Lansing does, in fact, take home a Section IV title this season, it would be one of the most spectacular turnarounds that we have seen in a long time.