After coming off of a stellar season like the one ADM softball did in 2016, it’s easy to look over a lot of the true positives that took place inside the 2017 campaign. The Lady Tigers did end up with a 19-17 overall record, but they did so while facing 15 top fifteen ranked teams not to mention putting up a winning record while inside the Raccoon River Conference, a conference that sent three teams to this year’s state tournament.

One of the brightest of spots for the Lady Tigers this season came inside the circle with freshmen pitcher Abbie Hlas. The freshmen totaled over 200 innings pitched while putting up a respectable 2.10 ERA all while stifling most opposing line ups who averaged just .212 against Hlas all season.

Playing so competitively at the varsity pace of play is always a difficult task, especially for the likes of freshmen, but never the less Hlas did just that and Raccoon Valley Radio got to talk with head softball coach Rick Dillinger about how her adaptation into the varsity level and her future going forward.

“I think she adapted well. She was always on a learning curve but that’s the beauty of it is she’s had the experience now and she’ll get better this winter just because of the experiences she got to go through and she (now) understands what it takes to pitch at a higher level. Very happy with her effort and happy with her off-season work, she was very dedicated coming in and hardly missed an open gym in terms of getting ready and make the team better. I’m pleased with Abbie and what she did and I really think she can take another step up the ladder next season with the work ethic that she has,” stated coach Dillinger.