Hartwig carries team through spring training
Minnesota’s abnormally snowy and cold April has kept junior Rachel Hartwig and her teammates indoors. While practicing indoors, softball teams can focus more on the batting and pitching aspects of the game, while the defensive side of the softball lacks practice time.
April 11, 2014
“Statistically, if you look at what she’s accomplished, Rachel from the home runs to RBI’s perspective, has done things that very few players here if any have ever done, ” said Assistant softball coach Roger Stippel.
Junior Rachel Hartwig has been playing varsity softball for Stillwater Area High School since 8th grade.
“I like playing softball because at least in Minnesota when it’s winter time, I can still play year round in different domes. It’s something I can do all year,” said Hartwig.
Before practices started this year for the softball team, Hartwig was attending practices outside of the school league.
“I had been playing in a winter dome league before this season started. I would only play on Sundays, but there was also other clinics outside of my dome league where I could play,” said Hartwig.
Hartwig loves softball and it has been a passion for her ever since she first picked up the bat in pre-school.
“I love playing because it’s something consistent in my life and it’s a lot of fun,” said Hartwig.
Two years ago the girls softball team won state and last year they were runners up in state.
“I would like to get back to the section final this year. That’s a team goal for everyone. For the last three seasons that I have been on the team we have always made it there,” said Hartwig.
The girls team is expected to win their section this year like they have in past.
“I think there is a lot of pressure to win again this year because almost everyone expects us to,” said Hartwig.
Hartwig still has two more seasons left with the team and her coaches are very confident in what she is capable of.
“Her confidence is really what carries over. When Rachel is up to bat there isn’t just a good feeling in Rachel, the whole team feels good. I’m down at first base coaching and I’m feeling good. She exudes confidence in the other players,” said Stippel.
Hartwig has played many different positions. Two years ago when the team won the state tournament she played first base. She has played many other positions and this year she will be pitching for the team a lot.
“This year she’ll pitch for us. She’s capable of going to play anywhere on the outfield. I look for her to be our primary pitcher this year and get a bulk of the innings in,” said Stippel.
Hartwig loves seeing her friends at practice and that is one of her favorite parts about being on the team.
“I love getting to see my softball friends because sometimes I don’t always see them during school or during the school year,” said Hartwig.
Maddy Boettner • May 8, 2014 at 11:30 pm
I thought this article was really well written! I loved the quotes, especially the opening one from Stippel. It really grabbed the readers attention and made you want to keep reading.
Brinna Dochniak • May 8, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Overall this article portrayed Rachel as a player on the softball team pretty well but some of the quotes you got from her were pretty general and vague. Also, some of your facts were a little off, for example, the softball team did infact attend the state tournament last year but did not get runner-up. Other than that I really liked that you went and got quotes from coach Stipple but I also wish you would have interviewed other players from the team.
Cora Sutherland • May 7, 2014 at 12:40 pm
The transitions between quotes could’ve flowed better, but the quality of the quotes was pretty strong. However, they would’ve carried more weight if they’d been more intertwined into the article.
Alec Youngblood • May 7, 2014 at 2:59 am
I enjoyed reading this article and think it was very well written. Your quotes were great and you had a lot of extra information that added a lot of depth to the story.
Dan Strand • May 6, 2014 at 11:40 pm
I liked how you used a quote as your lead since not a lot people do that. This was very informative and was overall a great article. Nice job.
savanna sylvis • May 6, 2014 at 10:45 pm
What I really like about this article is that it has so many great examples of how Rachel is helping with the team preparations. Also the first quote is a little questionable for the very beginning of the article, but other wise great job.
Emily Lodahl • May 6, 2014 at 8:45 pm
I really liked how you included what Rachel does in the winter because people may not know that softball can be a year round sport. You had some great quotes from the coach although I think it would be more interesting to see a fellow player’s perspective on Rachel also. Very good lead with a strong quote. Good job!
Paul Hudachek • May 6, 2014 at 4:13 pm
I clicked on this article because of the lead. I think there are a lot of somewhat cheesy or obvious leads in our Sports and Locker Room sections, but this one took some judgement. A quote was given that was interesting, factual, and attention give, and you were able to regard this and use it appropriately. I read right into the article, and I thought it was well done. Yes, starting with a quote may be risky, but I think comparatively it stands its ground. Nice job.
Danny Ekstrand • May 6, 2014 at 2:47 pm
The addition of telling us that she has been on the varsity team since 8th grade was great, this article did wonders to represent what type of person she is. I was a little leery about you using the quote to start the story but it worked out well.
Jessica Thomas • Apr 29, 2014 at 6:02 pm
I found it interesting to read about a junior that had so many athletic accomplishments. The variety of sources included also improved the reading of this article though some of the quotes were somewhat repetitive and I would have liked to have seen a better conclusion but overall great job!