CHERRY TWP – Cortney Claypoole likes to keep things lively. When things are too quiet, Claypoole is looking for ways to keep her teammates up.

When fellow Moniteau freshman Alazia Greaves is up at the plate, Claypoole joins her softball teammates in chanting “Z” and throwing up the Zoltan hand gesture from the “Dude, Where's My Car?”.

Claypoole, who's never seen the movie, got the idea from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I always try to come up with funny chants. Fun things that are respectful and keep the team up,” Claypoole said. “The Z thing, we came up with that in travel ball a few years ago.”

Claypoole's enthusiasm reflects the makeup of the Moniteau team. Eight of the Warriors' players – Claypoole, Kennedy DeMatteis, Kristina DeMatteis, Greaves, Bailey Hoffman, Sara Hull, Makayla King and Gabby Stewart – are freshmen eager to prove themselves at the varsity level. That group has found quick success and helped Moniteau start 13-0.

Kayla Campbell is the team's only senior.

Warriors coach Dan Beebe said with so many new players in the program, an adjustment period was expected.

“They've played a lot of ball. The younger ones have played a lot of ball together,” Beebe said. “These older ones have played a lot of ball for me. We're trying to put it all together. I'm trying to get used to playing with them and they are trying to get used to my coaching style. It's all starting to come together.”

Melding together was easy for a group willing to put the time in. Everyone in the group puts in time outside of practice and games.

It's shown at the plate.

Kristina DeMatteis (.690), Kennedy DeMatteis (.674), Claypoole (.600), Hull (.459) and Stewart (.452) are all hitting over .400.

Junior Taylor Hasychak (.516) and sophomore Alyssa Dailey (.406) are also over the mark.

“We all do the 100 club,” Kristina DeMatteis said. “We all hit 100 off the tee when we don't practice.”

Stewart, who never ran track before, joined to improve her speed in the lead-off spot. It was a shock to the system. All worth it to see improvement on the field.

“My starts in the track were slow to begin with because of the blocks because I wasn't used to them,” Stewart said. “I tried the standing blocks, which are like leaning against a vase. I was faster getting out of those. I did better in my last track meet and it carried over to here.”

Defensively, Kennedy DeMatteis has established herself as the top pitcher, earning seven wins. Beebe lets Kennedy and Kristina, who catches, call the games.

“She calls the pitches because she knows what I like to pitch,” Kennedy said.

Kristina knows how to read her sister. When Kennedy was struggling to find her command against Clarion-Limestone Thursday, Kristina called more fastballs instead of off-speed stuff.

How much she enjoys calling the game depends on the day.

“I like it when she listens,” Kristina said. “I really like it a lot better when I do call a game.”

Having the experience with playing on travel teams helped the group mesh together quickly. A trip to the Netherlands to play softball against older players taught Claypoole the importance of staying tough mentally.

“You have to keep your team up. We played older girls that were amazing,” Claypoole said. “When you're down by a lot and those girls know more than you do, you have to keep the spirits up and make sure everyone is pumped up and ready to go.”

That's why Claypoole never stops chattering during games.

This Moniteau team still has a lot left to say.

“We're starting to figure out our lineup,” Beebe said. “We have some good teams coming up in the next couple weeks that will really give us a test to see exactly where we're at. We're playing good right now.”

Fresh Faces

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Here's a breakdown of the stats for the 8 freshmen on the Moniteau softball team.

Name Avg. H RBIKr. DeMatteis .690 29 21Ke. DeMattei .674 29 26Claypoole .600 21 14Hull .459 17 15Stewart .452 19 12Greaves .269 7 6Hoffman 1.000 2 0King 1.000 1 0