Lady Senators building experience

Published 11:15 pm Friday, February 26, 2010

SELMA — Morgan Academy will have experience one day, but until then coach Jennifer Moore has to teach it.

Moore has spent a lot of time working with her players on game situations such as catching a would-be base stealer in a rundown. Almost all of Friday’s practice was devoted to that pursuit.

“They know fundamentals,” Moore said. “It’s communication (the team lacks). We’re still working on knowing where runners are and where we’re supposed to be.”

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The Senators are just two games into the 2010 season, but Moore has seen signs of promise despite the team having no seniors.

“Our offense is much better than it was last year,” Moore said. “We played Tuesday and everybody was making contact. With the mound being moved back to 43 feet, everybody is going to be hitting better.”

With that rule change, Moore will be leaning heavily on junior pitcher Amy Austin and junior catcher Brandi Sharpe to shoulder the load and keep the added pitching distance from being a detriment to the Senators’ success.

“(Sharpe) is real vocal, and she’s been playing a long time,” Moore said. “She knows the sport and is always positive. Amy is a strong pitcher and has a good many different pitches. For her, it’s just knowing when to throw which pitches and how to read a batter.”

Moore is in her second year as coach, and the Senators won just seven games last year, but she has visions of a playoff berth for the varsity team and a state tournament berth for the JV.

“I’ve been very pleased with practice,” Moore said. “They all seem to work real well together. We’ve been running drills on how to communicate, and we just have to let the older players work with the younger ones.”