Building confidence, regardless of the season record, was the name of the game for the Cashton Eagles softball team in 2026.
|The Eagles finished with an overall record of 6-16, which included a 5-8 mark in Scenic Bluffs Conference play which was good enough for fifth place in the conference standings.
Cashton head coach Clint Kramer said that one reason the players became more self-assured was being more familiar with their roles.
The Eagles entered the year without a senior on its roster and had graduated a highly productive trio in 2025.
Early on in the season, the team had to shuffle players around, especially in the outfield.
“At the beginning of the season, our outfield was kind of a revolving door, we didn’t know who was where,” Kramer said.
“We also had some injuries, we had a couple of girls out with banged up knees. We didn't really have healthy bodies, at one point we had only nine girls. At the end of the season, I felt our outfield got stronger.”
Moving sophomore Kinley McCracken to centerfield helped as Kramer said she came into her own at that position. Getting players settled down into specific positions made a huge difference according to Kramer.
“Once the girls get to that spot and they know that is their spot, they can work the things they need to improve on to get better,” Kramer said. “The biggest thing with the outfield in particular is, awareness of your teammates. If a ball is hit to left center, who is going to get it? Who is going to take control? Once we put Kinley out in center, she became the voice out there.”
Defensive stability was not the only area where the Eagles made strides. Kramer said the team’s offense also took steps forward after emphasizing better approaches at the plate.
“I felt that last year, our team batting average was a lot lower than I wanted it to be. So this year, I was really focused on getting kids in the right position in the batting order that would give us an opportunity to swing a bat,” Kramer said.
“This year, Peyton Brueggen and Kennedy Brown were number one and number two in the conference for batting averages. They were both batting over .500 in conference play.”
Brueggen, a junior, finished the season with a team-high .547 batting average and led the team in hits with 35 and RBIs with 28. Brown, also a junior, finished with a .435 average with 27 hits and 12 RBIs.
Even if it did not result in a hit, Kramer said the number of quality at-bats by the Eagles went up this season as well. The coach added that the players also went into the batter’s box with a lot more confidence this season.
The combination of increased confidence and familiarity at players’ positions will be building blocks for the Eagles to improve for next season. The team had no seniors this season and should have many returning players.
“It is huge. When you can walk into the first day of practice and everyone goes to their spot, right there is half the battle,” Kramer said. “We are going to have senior leadership next year. I think we will have some good seniors at good places.”
“I told this to a lot of people that this group was a great group to coach. They had fun, but when we needed to get work done, they got it done.”
