Lions stay poised during tough stretch

By Douglas Miles
Posted 7/1/21

With one week to go in the prep softball regular season, Lone Tree is attempting to dig itself out of its toughest stretch.

A once-promising 7-3 start to the season – which already surpassed …

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Lions stay poised during tough stretch

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With one week to go in the prep softball regular season, Lone Tree is attempting to dig itself out of its toughest stretch.

A once-promising 7-3 start to the season – which already surpassed last season’s win total – has fallen on hard times, as the rugged Southeast Iowa Superconference slate has delivered 10 losses in the last 11 games to the Lady Lions.

Despite the downturn in fortunes, first-year Lone Tree Coach Reid Kaalberg has seen no quit in his team, which hosted Pekin Monday night.

“As we go down the stretch where we start to play a lot of games, girls can kind of get tired and exhausted,” Kaalberg said. “And I don’t think that I have seen that yet from this group. So this group comes to practice every day and they are ready to work and get better at something. Whatever our goal is for this drill or this practice. So that is nice to see. Because if they were kind of out of it, it would be hard to keep them engaged.”

Kaalberg arrived in Lone Tree after serving as the Tipton pitching coach last season. Before that, he was an assistant with Durant. He brought along his twin sister, Madison Kaalberg, and her plethora of coaching experience at the high school, club and junior college levels as the Lions’ hitting coach.

Both twins are 2012 graduates of Mid-Prairie.

“I couldn’t be more thankful for Coach Reid,” Lone Tree junior pitcher Arlie Lorack said. “He has given me so many opportunities, like during practice. He has given me helpful tips, so I did feel ready to get in the circle.”

Lorack and fellow junior infielder Ellen Carow – a West Liberty transfer – have assumed vital leadership roles for a team comprised of just one senior and a whopping seven players – nearly half the roster – are either freshmen or eighth-graders.

“It is kind of nice to have two of my juniors to run with this team,” Kaalberg said. “I have only got one senior (outfielder) in Skylar (Smith), so having these two, relying on these two to do a lot of it. ... I could not ask for anything better with these two.”

While Carow is the vocal leader and offensive catalyst (team-best .400 batting average, 26 hits, 20 runs scored), Lorack quietly demonstrates the model by which to follow.

“I am not loud at all,” Lorack said with a laugh. “I feel kind of bossy when I do shout, so I just lead by example.”

An all-SEISC first team honoree last season and a second-team selection two years ago, Lorack has continued her hitting exploits this season (.377 average, team-high nine doubles, three home runs, 20 runs batted in) and has also shouldered the load in the pitching circle. She has pitched more than 98 of Lone Tree’s 114 total innings, allowed 140 hits and struck out 108 batters.

“When I came in, I knew that we graduated an all-conference pitcher in Abby Buckman and I saw this girl and our first day of pitching and catching, I’ll never forget,” Kaalberg said. “She texted me and told me that she had a pitching lesson and I told her that I was going to go with her. Since then, we have just bonded. She has worked. This girl has put in more hours. Pitching, one on one with me, with the team, everything. More hours than anyone on this team. And that is all truly that I can ask from this girl. Be a leader, show me how you are a leader and she has.”

Of the 115 runs Lorack has allowed this season, only 47 have been earned.

“Defense is probably our biggest struggle right now, but you are going to have that,” Kaalberg said. “I start three eighth-graders in our lineup and I have got a freshman at third base, the hot corner, and then sometimes I have got another freshman in Lila Bell stepping in on defense. So we are young, but I truly have no complaints with this team because they come ready to work. It is going to take repetitions and the girls know, ‘I have just got to get a little better every day’ and that is all I am going to ask of them.”

With five games left in the regular season (six if the June 22 Louisa-Muscatine postponement can be rescheduled), Lone Tree (8-13, 4-8 SEISC) needs just two wins to reach double figures for the third time in five years. Then it is on to regional play, where the Lady Lions will open with a Class 1A first round game July 6 against Holy Trinity.

“I think we are a big threat,” Lorack said. “On a good day, we can take any team. We can take any team if we have our mindset right.”