Rise of the Cougar

STUARTS DRAFT
Only six games into the season and Stuarts Draft’s Lauren Campbell has already had a career year.

After pitching a no-hitter on Tuesday against Harrisonburg, Lauren (3-1) carried that momentum into Thursday’s game against Waynesboro, pitching a one-hit ballgame. In four games in the circle, she has struck out 37, allowed 13 hits and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down — and she is only a freshman.

Lauren broke onto the scene last season on the JV team, being called up to the Cougars’ varsity squad this year joining an ever-improving Stuarts Draft bullpen. The Cougars have even joined the mix as a contender in the improving Southern Valley District softball scene that has been dominated since its 2007 inception by Fort Defiance.

“I was nervous about it because, I’m a freshman and it’s my first year on varsity,” Lauren said. “The team is great, we all get along most of the time, and so it’s going pretty good.”

The Indians already pulled one win out over the Cougars, winning 5-2 in the two team’s Southern Valley opener but the Cougars get a second shot at Fort Defiance on Friday on their home field. 

“I have a lot of friends that go there,” Lauren said of Fort Defiance.

Lauren is no stranger to competition, leading the Blue Ridge Nationals to a fifth-place finish in the Little League World Series in 2006. She said that playing on travel teams helped prepare her for the jump from junior varsity to varsity at the high school level.

“You learn a lot of different skills with that,” she said.

With a loaded arsenal of pitches to choose from, Lauren said that her best pitch is her fastball but she has several breaking and off-speed pitches to fall back on.

“I have a lot of different pitches that I use to mess up the batter,” she said. “I’ve been working on some others that I hope to use.”

Draft coach Michelle Campbell, no relation to Lauren, said that her freshman hurler added more options for the Cougars.

“It’s been great,” she said. “This is the first year that we have had a core group of pitchers with Lauren and Erin [Brown]. We have a lot more that we can do defensively that we haven’t been able to do before.”

The Cougars started their climb up the Southern Valley ranks last season, finishing No. 2 in the district tournament and clinching a berth in the Region III bracket. This season, Lauren said that the team is stronger than ever.

“Our freshmen get along very well,” she said. “We have four freshmen on the team and I think we get along well with all the seniors.”

The Cougars coach agreed and said that the biggest problem facing the team was lack of time on the field and injuries.

“I think the thing that is getting us this year isn’t gelling but injuries,” the Michelle Campbell said. “[Tuesday was] our fifth game in a month and I’ve never had a season with this few games.”

Draft’s (4-2, 1-1 Southern Valley) defense on the diamond has improved as well.

“Last year we would have five or six errors in a game,” Michelle Campbell said. “This year, the most we have had was two. I know yesterday we had one error and that was the only girl they got on base.”