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LINDEN -— North Montgomery softball in many ways has had a breakthrough season. The Chargers have fielded a team this season that has achieved many firsts. North Montgomery has earned pair of Sagamore Conference wins against a great hitting team in Frankfort and county rival Crawfordsville and their five wins this season has given Charger coach Rob Earley and his staff a foundation for building the future of the program.
The Chargers however didn’t get any favors with their sectional draw and will open up the Class 3A Sectional 25 at Lebanon on Monday when they take on sectional favorite and the No. 1 team in 3A in the Tri-West Bruins. North Montgomery and Tri-West met up just last week with the Bruins out-scoring the Chargers a combined 36-2 in the two meetings. Despite the looming obstacle that stands in front of them, Earley no matter the result come Monday has seen this season with the Chargers as a successful one.
“Improving from first practice to last game was one of our goals this year and overall we have achieved that,” he said. “This team is very young and the freshmen have gained a ton of experience through this season. The coaching staff has learned more about each player but also the players know themselves better I believe.”
In total the Chargers have 10 freshman on the team and one of them who Earley has called their “work horse” all season has been Piper Ramey. Ramey leads the team with a .419 batting average and has hit three home-runs and has a team-high 14 RBI’s. On the mound Ramey has pitched in 118 innings for the Chargers this season with 184 strikeouts. Fellow freshman Faith Shirar also boasts a .304 average at the plate for the Chargers. Blair Nichols, another freshman, bats .288.
While the task of downing the top-ranked Bruins looks daunting, Earley mentioned how his team learned some lessons on what it takes to be talented team as the Bruins are.
“After our two games vs Tri West I spoke on how we should’ve learned what it takes to be a extremely talented team,” he said. “That team has work ethic, desire and extreme knowledge of the game. We must possess those same characteristics to be like that in a couple years.”
Throughout the course of a long season there has been some obstacles for the Chargers to overcome, but at the end of the day the team has been there to lift one another according to Earley. North Montgomery softball has a foundation and with Earley at the helm, the future looks promising.
“I am extremely excited for the future of the North Montgomery Softball program,” Earley said. “It’s not an overnight change but with the commitment of the players, parents and coaches toward the same common goal this program will change for the better.”
The Chargers and Bruins are set for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Lebanon with the winner getting to take on Frankfort on Tuesday.
