Coach's kid can bring it
HARRISVILLE — As an opposing player, Cheyenne Hindman impressed Thunder Elite fastpitch softball coach Jeff Steiner last year.
She’s been impressing just about anyone she’s come across on a softball field since.
Hindman, now 11, daughter of Butler High School varsity softball coach Dan Hindman, helped lead the Thunder Elite 10-under team to the ASA Class A Eastern Nationals championship last weekend in Salem, Va.
Thunder Elite is a premier softball program based in Trumbull County, Ohio.
A Harrisville resident, Hindman played for the Pittsburgh Pride last summer and played against Steiner’s team in a Pittsburgh-based tournament.
“We draw players from Western Pennsylvania from time to time and I was impressed with Cheyenne in that tournament,” Steiner recalled. “Her team was losing, but I loved the way she prepared herself on the field, her desire and work ethic.
“As a 9-year-old then, I considered her an A-plus player. I talked to her mother after that game and told her that if Cheyenne wanted to join an elite program at some point, we’d love to have her.”
The rest is history.
Thunder Elite’s 10-under team finished 63-4 this summer, winning 10 of the 13 tournaments in which it participated.
Hindman is a pitcher-shortstop-third baseman who put up impressive numbers on the mound and at the plate.
“She’s been playing competitive softball for about four years now,” Dan Hindman said. “I try to work with her whenever I can and her mother works with her.
“Cheyenne came to our (high school) open gyms at Moniteau and at Butler this past year. The high school girls at both schools were always receptive to her.”
On the mound, Hindman posted a 22-1 record with 169 strikeouts and 22 walks in 114 innings pitched. She allowed only 44 hits and had an earned run average of 0.803.
“We had two really good pitchers this year, so Cheyenne had to share the mound duties and didn’t pitch as much as she wouyld have liked,” Steiner said.
“She’s an unselfish kid that way, but she let everyone know when she was out there.”
At the plate, Hindman hit .455 and had a .529 on-base percentage. She had 75 hits in 165 at bats, scored 74 runs, walked 26 times and struck out only nine.
She began the season as the No. 2 hitter in the lineup, but was soon moved to the No. 4 spot.
“I didn’t realize what kind of power she had,” Steiner said.
Dan Hindman said that “Cheyenne hit a couple of balls over the fence this year and the fences were about 185 feet out.”
Thunder Elite won all seven of its games at the ASA Eastern Nationals, defeating teams from Ohio, Virginia and New York. It won the title game by a 9-1 count over the Virginia Scrappers.
Hindman and her teammates will return next year and play in the 12-under division.
“You can tell by watching this girl how much she loves the game,” Steiner said. “She clearly wants to play softball at a very high level someday.”
