Phoebe Gardner is fitting the profile of a leading candidate for the COC Player of The Year award, with both her hitting and fielding serving as endorsements.
Gardner extended her hitting streak to all 19 Nixa games this season 24 games dating back to last season by going 2-for-4 in the Lady Eagles’ 7-2 triumph over Branson on Tuesday.
At shortstop, she fielded everything hit her way flawlessly. It was her fourth errorless outing in the Lady Eagles’ last five games.
Gardner is hitting .561 with an amazing 37 hits already and sports a .925 fielding percentage.
The latter figure is duly noted as Gardner’s career has seen evolve from a catcher to a third baseman to a shortstop. She was at third for Nixa as a freshman, before coach Matt Walker had her fill a void at shortstop last season.
Her fielding percentage was .879 a year ago, but she is much calmer and steadier at short this season.
“I’m a lot more confident in my abilities there now,” Gardner said. “I’m not stressing and I’m making the plays. I love playing shortstop.
“At short, you have to go up on the ball to field it, while at third you kind of just stand there, field it and throw it,” she added. “At short, you have to think more and read the ball before you field it and throw it.”
“She’s grown more into that shortstop role and is doing well,” Walker said. “She gets the job done. With Maddy (Meierer) pitching, our infielders are going to get a lot of ground balls and our infield defense has helped us.”
Nixa (13-6 overall and 5-0 in the COC) was guilty of just one error while supporting Meierer on Tuesday.
Gardner, fresh from joining the Lady Eagles’ 100-hit club over the weekend at the Rake at The Lake Tournament in Macks Creek, banged out a pair of singles and scored twice.
She now is up to 110 hits, after having 33 as a freshman and 40 as a sophomore.
The 100-hit milestone came sooner than Gardner would have imagined.
“I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said if someone would have told her as a freshman she would be at 100 hits as a junior. “As I’ve gotten older, my mentality has gotten better. Focusing on hitting hard line drives and ground balls has helped me have a lot of success. I’m not trying to do too much at the plate.”
“I love her approach at the plate,” Walker said. “She keeps it simple and has been on base a ton.”
Gardner didn’t exactly know how to react initially upon getting her 100th hit.
“I wasn’t sure if I did it when I got to first base,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘I know that was either 99 or 100.’ So, I looked at my Mom and she really cheering so I knew I had did it. Then, I went back to focusing on hitting line drives.”
Walker is not sure who Nixa’s all-time hits leader is, but suspects Gardner has a good chance at that record.
“I’m trying not to think about things like that,” Gardner said. “I’m trying to go into every game with a clean slate and get a hit or two each game. I try not to freak out if I don’t get a hit my first at-bat. I forget about it and stay calm so I can hit a line drive the next time.”
Nixa received a home run from Apryl Zeno as part of its 11-hit attack. The Lady Eagles hit fast balls, but were vulnerable to changeups, striking out seven times.
“Somewhat,” Walker said when asked if his hitters have struggled against changeups. “Then, we’ll face somebody who doesn’t have a changeup and we’ll still struggle.”
Nixa’s road to its first COC championship in 10 years includes dates with Republic (11-6 and 3-1), Webb City (10-7 and 3-2), Neosho (10-7 and 2-3) and Carl Junction (2-17 and 0-5).
“Republic has been playing well lately,” Walker said. “They’ve beaten Carthage and Kickapoo. They’re someone we have to worry about. Hopefully, we can keep rolling.”
