A capsule look at Central Christian’s spring sports teams
Expectations are high for the Central Christian tennis team of veteran coach Gene Lehman, as the Comets return their singles lineup from a team that went 10-2 a year ago.
The following are previews of Central Christian’s spring varsity teams.
Baseball
Spring brings about fresh starts and optimism for baseball teams everywhere. At Central Christian, that concept is being cranked up a notch.
The Comets are essentially an expansion team, having not fielded a team last year. They have one letter winner, junior pitcher/firstbaseman/infielder Brayden Neuenschwander, who played as a freshman two years ago.
Other than that, the team’s small roster consists of one senior – utility player Andrew Maxwell – and the rest sophomores and freshmen. With just 11 on the roster, everybody is going to have to contribute.
That list includes sophomores Carson Hostetler (outfield) and Dominic Gasser (pitcher/catcher/ infield), and freshmen Lyle Endsley (pitcher/infield), Bryan Martin (pitcher/outfield/utility), Drew Badertscher (pitcher/infield), Luke Schrier (catcher/pitcher), Ben Miller (infield/outfield), Caleb Hagerman (outfield) and Stefano McCurdy (outfield).
“We are extremely young and inexperienced and have plenty of work to do moving forward but there is a solid core of guys that know and understand the game,” coach Zach Kooker said. “Should be exciting to watch this group as they progress throughout the season.”
Kooker, who has 16 years of experience at the helm and is approaching 150 career wins, is looking for improvement and progress, which he should see, given that everyone will play and play a lot.
“We don’t have the luxury of sitting on our talent and letting it do its thing,” he said. “We have to make steady improvements as the year moves on.”
Softball
When second-year coach Julie Kozel looks for senior leadership from her group this year, she’s going to have to wait a bit. The Comets have no seniors. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Everybody on this team is going play this year and everybody should be back next year to build on whatever happens in 2023.
“This season is a building season for us as we look to get more experience under our belts,” Kozel said. “I expect some of our bats to come alive and to see the younger girls step up to fill the shoes of the many players we graduated.”
The Comets were 2-11 overall last year and 2-6 in the Mid-Buckeye conference. They lost half their roster to graduation but aren’t without veterans, despite a lack of upperclassmen. Junior Angela Miller (catcher/center field), and sophomores Laura Nunes (pitcher/shortstop/left field), Micah Kozel Steiner (pitcher/shortstop/left field), Molly Green (first base) and Naveah Dickens (second base/right field) all return.
Kozel will look for a trio of first-year juniors – Great Patterson (centerfield/left field/second base), Caitlyn Yoder (right field/third base) and Abby Hewitt (shortstop/third base) to step up immediately, along with sophomore Katelyn Miller (left field/third base) and freshman Adeline Aubrey (catcher/first base/right field).
“I believe we’ve got some real bright spots in our offense and we’re excited to see how the girls come up to the plate strong,” said Kozel, who added her team is a dedicated, hard-working group.
Tennis
Expectations are high for the Comets, who return their singles lineup among four letter winners from a team that last year finished 10-2 overall and placed second in the conference tournament.
“With the returning players we should be competitive with most teams but there are some strong teams in our league this year,” coach Gene Lehman said. “The NET conference should be very competitive again this season as it is a very good tennis league.”
The Comets are led by a trio of seniors in Nate Byler, Nathan Miller and Thatcher Rohrer. The junior class includes John Marcos Castillo Gago, Youngsheng Jin and Adrien Lehman. A big sophomore group includes Banner Tennant, Jiarui Zhang, Josiah Bixler, Jakobi Hummel, Aaron Miedel and Ilya Prytip. Youran Shen is the lone freshman.
Miedel, Miller and Lehnam return as singles players. Bixler is the lone returning doubles player, so some spots in the lineup were up for grabs.