Tigers hope to return to top of 7A

CHERRY—At one time, the Cherry High School softball team dominated in Section 7A until 2021, then the tables turned.

The Tigers haven’t been to state since 2022, so Cherry coach Darrell Bjerklie is hoping a return to glory happens in 2024.

If everything falls into place, the Tigers will have just as good of a chance as any team in the section this season.

“What we need to do is put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together,” Bjerklie said. “We have to make the pieces fit, then put the new ones together. Defense and offense will be a key for us, but that’s true for a lot of the teams in our section.

“Whoever is able to get it all together at the end will be the one that wins it all.”

Two seniors, Faith Zganjar and Brooke Rinerson will share the duties of bringing this team together.

“They need to be leaders, plain and simple,” Bjerklie said. “They have to lead by showing our younger players how to compete. They have to show composure, whether we’re winning or losing.

“That’s the No. 1 thing they need to do.”

Joining them on the team will be juniors Ameelee Grotberg, Lydia Greenly, Anna Serna and Amara Aimonetti.

The sophomores are Kaelyn Greenly, Aunika Helms, Aunika Kempa and Emma Peterson.

Bella Grotberg, Gertie Puhek, Kaidy Stokes and Trinity Olson make up the freshmen class, and Kristina Shavor is an eighth-grader.

“Our juniors and sophomores are good,” Bjerklie said. “We have a couple of freshmen and an eighth-grader, but I don’t know if they’re grade level makes a difference. It’s their experience.

“It’s those new ones to the varsity level learning the speed of the game. It’s more intense than they’re used to.

If Cherry has one strength it will be in the pitchers circle with Bella Grotberg and Lydia Greenly.

“Bella has the most experience with the most innings pitched as a freshman,” Bjerklie said. “That’s valuable experience, but she needs to keep improving on that. Lydia throws well, but she needs a little game-time-pitching experience.

“We’ll have to decide which path we want to go with deciding on how we’re going to use them both. It’s keeping batters off balance and not making good contact, We’re not going to strike out a ton of them. That’s not going to happen.”

Defensively, Bjerklie said that’s a work in progress.

“There’s some good things, but it’s getting back into game shape,” Bjerklie said. “It’s understanding our range and deciding on whether or not we should attack the ball instead of waiting for it.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Offensively, Bjerklie isn’t sure what to expect.

“That’s our unknown,” he said. “We can all be big hitters in the gym and cage. All of those things change when the lights come on. That’s when we’ll find out where they’re at in making good decisions as to whether to swing or not.

“We have a little over a month to get them all ready.”

The only goal at the moment is getting this team to improve every day.

“That’s the same goal every year,” Bjerklie said. “We have the talent and the athletes to compete for the section title. That’s not a secret, but there’s three or four other teams that can say the same thing.

“We’ll need all three phases to click before we’re actually good. It’s who puts it together at the end.”