By Jeff Dahn

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- The softballs caromed wickedly off the hardwood basketball court at Hennessey Recreation Center after they left the bat of Mount Mercy associate head coach Larry Yoder during a recent practice session.

Yoder, head coach Glenn Johnson and pitching coach John Olachnovitch were conducting a fielding and base-running drill with their 2010 Mustang softball team indoors at Hennessey just days before the team was scheduled to board a bus for five games in Kansas March 12-14. Those games were to be the Mustangs first taste of play outdoors this season.

The players laughed easily while simultaneously soaking in the instruction offered from their coaches. This was work, serious work, but it was also a time for the players to enjoy being part of a team, one that was also looking forward to playing its first games of the season outdoors in the fresh air.

"It's been difficult right now because we've been in this gym forever," Olachnovitch said with a chuckle. "But we're having a little fun with them and we're working hard."

Senior shortstop Brianna Williams, a first-team all-Midwest Collegiate Conference selection as a junior last season, shared the same thoughts as Olachnovitch.
"We're all excited to get outside. We've been cooped up in this gym for a long time," she said. "The outfielders are definitely ready to get out and get some fly balls."

That day was coming soon enough.

Mount Mercy, under the direction of Johnson, Yoder and Olachnovitch - all in their fourth years with the school -- finished 29-20 last season (14-12 MCC) and second at the MCC Tournament. The Mustangs finished strong last spring, winning seven of their last 10 games, including four of six at the conference tourney.

League coaches picked them to finish third in regular-season play this season behind Grand View and William Penn.

The Mustangs return four first-team all-conference selections from 2009, including Williams, senior outfielder Emily Madsen, sophomore designated player Liz Hill, and sophomore right-handed pitcher Becca Smith.

Senior outfielder Shanna Canady received honorable mention from the league.

Four seniors -- Williams, Madsen, Canady and catcher/outfielder Sarah Tschetter -- lead this year's team. All four arrived on the Mount Mercy campus after two years in junior college; Williams and Canady from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, and Madsen and Tschetter from Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa.

"I just wanted a chance to be a leader and help build the team," said Tschetter, who is originally from Milford, Iowa. "Last year they had no seniors so I came in as a junior … and there was a chance for us to come in and lead and help bring our team from the bottom of the conference to the top. It's been a really good fit. We all work really well together and we've meshed really well."

Expectations are high on campus. The players talk unabashedly about winning a conference championship (the last one came in 1992) and qualifying for the NAIA national tournament (the last appearance was in 1990). Coach Johnson looks for the intangibles.

"I expect dedication and focus in the classroom and dedication and focus on the softball diamond," he said. "Attitude and effort control what we do and that's the one thing you can always control personally. That's what I expect them to bring to the ball diamond."

Madsen, who prepped at Iowa City West, hit a team-best .373 with three triples and 40 runs batted in last season. After the team lost in the MCC Tournament championship game to Waldorf last May, she started thinking about what the team could accomplish this spring season.

"We want to go to nationals because it would be a good way to end our senior season and a good way for (the younger players) to start next year," Madsen said.

Williams, who went to high school at MFL MarMac in Monona and who, like Madsen, started all 49 of the Mustangs' game last season, hit .336 with four home runs and 35 RBI. Canady, from Oelwein, hit .247 with five home runs and 22 RBI, and stole a school record 42 of 43 bases, the fifth best stolen bases effort in the nation (NAIA) last season.

Hill, a former Vinton-Shellsburg prep, hit .348 with three home runs, nine doubles, 29 RBI and a .504 slugging percentage.

"Coach always talks about PBs -- personal bests. I think we all have that in mind," Canady said. "I'm looking forward to trying to break my own record in stolen bases. That will be my own personal goal. But as far as a team, I think nationals are our ultimate goal."

There's that national tournament reference again. It was brought up in nearly every conversation on that recent night inside Hennessey.

"Obviously, we want to make it to nationals. That's our team goal," Williams said. "If we don't get there, we're not going to be happy. We want to play hard and give it all you have, and as long as you do that, you can't really look back and say you didn't give it your all."

Talented pitchers are essential in fastpitch softball, and the Mustangs have a very good one in Smith, a sophomore out of Solon. Smith was 21-10 with a 1.92 ERA last season, and struck out 255 and walked just 28 walks in 215 1/3 innings of work. Mariah Early, a sophomore out of Cedar Rapids Jefferson, will also get a lot of time in the pitchers' circle.

Coaches don't like to talk about conference championships and national championship berths before the outdoor season is even under way (Mount Mercy beat Dubuque twice at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls Feb. 12). It is in their nature to approach things incrementally and not allow their players to get too far ahead of themselves.

"We just want to keep getting better all the time, that's the big thing," Coach Yoder said. "Just keep working on our fundamentals and keep getting better and better. The wins will follow when you take care of that. We want to be in better shape and we want to be better ballplayers."

Johnson, who is a patent attorney and who has been the president of the Cedar Rapids Girls' Fastpitch Softball Association since 1990 and a member of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association for 15 years, takes the ultimate incremental approach. He liked what his team accomplished in 2009 and wants to build on that this season, step by step.

"Every game is a brand new opportunity, every at-bat is a brand new opportunity, every pitch is a brand new opportunity, and you have to control your opportunities," Johnson said. "We had a lot of energy last year and I think we gained more confidence throughout the year. We were an incredibly young team last year."

Twenty-four of the 27 players on the Mustangs' preseason roster went to high school in Iowa. Johnson is expanding his recruiting base to other states, but will continue to pluck top talent from his own backyard.

"Historically, the vast majority of the students who attend this school come from a radius of roughly 70 to 100 miles around Cedar Rapids," Johnson said. "Eastern Iowa typically does a nice job (developing softball players). There's a lot of good athleticism out there and the nice thing is we're able to have kids who commit to our program that are willing to get better, they're willing to work hard, and they're willing to represent us both in the classroom and on the softball diamond."

Now it's time to crank-up John Fogarty's "Centerfield" and take in lungs full of fresh spring air. Expectations are high. Put me in, coach.

"You always want the coin to land in your favor, but last year I don't think we were prepared for what it took to get to nationals. I think this year we will be prepared and ready to go," Canady said.

Coach Olachnovitch, who coached 12 years at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, likes the attitude he sees exhibited by this season's Mustangs.

"We're seeing the kids do the kind of things in practice that champions do," he said. "Now that never guarantees you'll get there, but you're not going to get there ever until you start doing the things that champions do. That means consistency in practice and consistency in your effort day-in and day-out."