Ogle and Blue Eagles softball have everyone’s attention, again
Entering the spring and 2017 high school softball, little of the preseason chatter centered on the Clover Blue Eagles. Shea Hall’s team did not make a deep playoff run in 2016, the first time in a number of years, and other programs were ascending.
Oh how quickly we forget.
The Blue Eagles won the state championship just two short years ago, and although several players graduated and moved on to college ball, they have seven talented seniors that played at least some part in the run to a title two years ago. They would love nothing more than to finish their careers with a chance to duplicate that success.
That year we won, I lost five or six seniors and some people thought we were going to go in a hole and never emerge again. But they didn't realize I had these sophomores that were just waiting to get out there. Those girls got a taste of that 2015 season.
Clover coach Shea Hall knew her team would quickly return to contending for state titles.
Pitcher Kayla Ogle was a member of that title team as a backup to another standout pitcher in Elizabeth Edmunds. Ogle emerged as the starting pitcher last season and her strong performances this year have Clover back in the thick of the region title race, the Blue Eagles leading the league (4-0) after the first round of games.
“Being able to observe (Edmunds) going through that prepared me to go through that myself,” Ogle said Tuesday. “She set a really good example for everybody, but I feel like she mentored me my freshman and sophomore year.”
Hall could tell early on that Ogle, who signed in February to play softball at Salem College (N.C.) where she’ll study biology, was going to be good.
“She had to take a different path and wait her time behind Elizabeth,” said Hall, “but she worked hard and learned from her. Now that she's got the opportunity, she has made the most of it.”
Ogle has pitched five shutouts in 11 starts, struck out 99 batters in 84 innings and walked just 19. She and her teammates felt overlooked at the start of the spring, a slight that’s motivated their early success.
“The Fab Five (MaxPreps) came out and we weren't in it,” Ogle said. “Honestly, I was really disappointed about that. And I feel like that kind of fueled a lot of our fires. Coach Hall hung it up in the locker room for us like 'look at this, this is what you need to prove to them.' I feel like we are proving a lot to ourselves too.”
I consider myself more of a spin pitcher. I don't think of myself as overpowering. I don't feel like I've got to go and strike everybody out. You want to let your defense play, especially when you've got a defense like this behind you.
Clover senior pitcher Kayla Ogle
The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets and their standout junior pitcher Bella Roy were understandably the preseason pick to win Region 4-5A after running through the league schedule undefeated in 2016. On March 17, Clover served notice that it still has to be reckoned with, beating Fort Mill 2-0. Ogle tossed a complete game one-hitter.
“That whole week Coach Hall talked about what kind of goals we want to set for the season,” Ogle said. “And that was our game where everything clicked. We played solid offensively and defensively. I think it was the mental aspect that helped us win that game.”
Hall felt her message was fully received by the Blue Eagles.
“I think it was the Fort Mill game that she just went to another level,” she said. “And really has been there ever since. She gives us a chance to win every game. And she's the kind of person you like to see have success because it's not about Kayla Ogle.”
Fort Mill and Clover - and their two standout pitchers - face off next week in the second of two regular season meetings, one that could decide the region championship.
“When we beat Fort Mill, that target shifted to our back,” Hall said. “There's no days off.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Ogle and Blue Eagles softball have everyone’s attention, again."