Softball Player Of The Year: James Wood's Lindsey Anderson

Posted: June 29, 2016
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — When James Wood sophomore Lindsey Anderson isn’t practicing or playing softball, she’s most comfortable hunting or horseback riding or just spending time outdoors with her dog named "Dinger."

Her yellow lab’s name seems all-too fitting coming from Anderson, considering how comfortable she’s been in the batter’s box in each of her first two seasons for the Colonels.

She’s basically rewriting James Wood’s record books when it comes to hitting, especially in the home run — or dinger — category.

This spring Anderson set the single-season record for James Wood with an area-best eight home runs, and she also led the Colonels in six offensive categories, including hits (31), batting average (.449), RBIs (36), doubles (seven) and triples (three).

The Colonels power-hitting catcher’s offensive numbers are even better than her freshman season when she hit .429 with five homers and 27 RBIs.

For James Wood coach Todd Baker, one of the winning formulas for his team is just having someone reach base before Anderson — who bats in the No. 3 slot in the order — steps into the batter’s box.

"I like for her to hit in the first inning," Baker said. "We always talk about getting off to fast starts and getting teams on their heels. This year she had five first-inning home runs and eight times she had extra-base hits in the first inning, so our focus on quick starts was a lot of times following her.

"As a coach, you just try to get someone on in front of her because she’s an RBI machine."

With her stellar sophomore season, Anderson is The Winchester Star’s Softball Player of the Year.

Anderson attributes her hitting prowess to two things. One is what’s become her pre-game ritual, and the other is a roll-up-your sleeves work ethic that she possesses.

Before most games this season, Anderson went to Jo Gail’s Country Cooking in Gore for a cheeseburger.

"It’s for good luck," said Anderson, referring to her pre-game meal with a smile. "I did it some last year and then this year almost every game that I could I went to Jo Gail’s and got a cheeseburger — just me and my dad."

Although her pre-game cheeseburger has become somewhat of a ritual, the real secret to her success lies in the amount of time she devotes to hitting.

Baker said he first heard about how much time Anderson spent practicing when her mother, Laura, shared a story last year.

"Her freshman year she was 3 for 4 here one night and just had a terrific game and her mom told me Lindsey came home hit on a tee for an hour and a half after that," Baker said. "I asked Lindsey and she said ‘well, a couple of those hits really weren’t off the barrel just right.’ She’ll go after practice or after a game and hit on tee by herself for a couple of hours every day and that’s what it takes."

And she also has what it takes to be a complete player, handling the catching duties for the Colonels, who boast two of the area’s top pitchers in sophomores Lani Spielman (10-5, 0.90 earned-run average, 114 strikeouts in 62 innings) and Lauren King (5-3, 1.69 ERA, 91 strikeouts in 54 innings).

"Our pitching is very strong here and you’ve got to have somebody behind the plate that can handle that," Baker said. "Both [Spielman and King] have a lot of movement on the ball and they throw the ball down a lot, and Lindsey seldom allows a passed ball. That’s huge in softball because of the short base paths and a passed ball [opposing teams] gain a base or sometimes score on it.

"She’s good at keeping the ball in front of her. Teams have a really tough time stealing on her. She’s got a strong arm back there, so she kind of keeps everything in-check."

Even though Anderson hit 20 points higher and increased her RBI total by nine from last year, she’s knows her numbers could’ve been better.

"I had a goal to hit five home runs and I hit eight," said Anderson, who received team MVP honors last season and received the Colonels’ Hitting Award this year. "I didn’t really have any other [individual] goals.

"My goal for next year is to not strike out as much as I did this year. I should’ve had a lot more hits this season."

Anderson struck out 11 times in 69 at-bats, but 58 percent of her hits went for extra bases and she averaged 1.5 RBIs per game.

Her ability to drive in runs in bunches was on display in the Colonels’ 10-0, five-inning victory over Clarke County at James Wood’s Ridge Field on March 29. She went 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles, a home run and six RBIs.

"I think the Clarke County game — she led off the game [in her first at-bat] with a home run and followed it up with two doubles," Baker recalled. "She just hit the ball hard every time up that game."

While the win over the Eagles was one of her most memorable performances of the season, Anderson said the most meaningful game was the Colonels’ 4-2 victory over Sherando in the Conference 21 West Tournament semifinals at Ridge Field.

"If we would’ve lost it would’ve been the end of our season," said Anderson, who credited her former coaches in travel and high school, especially her travel coach Joe Tirona, for helping her improve her softball skills. "Just winning it — that made us go farther and gave us a bunch of energy."

The Colonels lost to Woodgrove 7-0 in the conference championship and then fell to defending Group 4A state champ Carroll County 5-1 in the 4A West Region quarterfinals.

Anderson said that defeat in regionals will only drive the team going forward.

"[That loss] makes us want to go farther and we went and watched the game we could’ve been in if we won the last one," said Anderson, who usually wears a University of Alabama hat — her favorite team — to practice each day. "That made us want to come back next season and do [well]."

With the Colonels’ season over, Anderson is currently playing for the Front Royal Fire (16-U) travel team. In the Fire’s first tournament on June 4-5 in Pittsburgh, Pa., Anderson played in four games and had six doubles and two home runs in 11 at-bats.

"So the bat hasn’t cooled off any," said Baker, after mentioning Anderson’s numbers.

With both pitchers Spielman and King returning along with Anderson, the Colonels likely won’t be cooling off anytime soon with their battery intact for the next two seasons.

Anderson plans on putting in the work to ensure her numbers keep climbing. "I know I have two years left," Anderson said, "and I want them to be my best two years in my career."

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