Cor Jesu Looks to Defend Conference Softball Championship

Pitching is always the key to success for a high school softball team.

And that is good news for first-year Cor Jesu coach Dave Guimbarda.

Guimbarda inherits a team with three returning pitchers with varsity experience.

Senior Lauren Murphy and juniors Lexie Werckmann and Emily Ainsley combined for all the team's victories in a solid 18-9 season last year.

"Pitching is definitely going to be a strength," said Guimbarda, who has some coaching experience with the St. Louis Chaos select team. "All three of those girls use their smarts to their advantage."

The strong pitching helped the Chargers to a 5-1 record in the MWAA I Conference last year as they shared the league championship with Incarnate Word.

Cor Jesu also advanced to the district championship game, losing in the finals to eventual state champion Oakville.

The Chargers graduated some good offensive players, including leading hitter Olivia Kegler.

But they return a dynamic duo in Murphy and senior Anna Guimbarda. Murphy, who will play in the infield when she is not on the mound, had the second highest batting average last season at .388.

Guimbarda, who will likely start at shortstop, is a three-year varsity player and led the Chargers in home runs with three and RBIs with 24 in 2010.

Senior Lena Dyer is another player to watch. The catcher missed the entire 2010 campaign after an injury at the end of her select season last summer. However, she is healthy this fall and looking forward to her senior season.

"We lost some good hitters from last year, but I think we have enough pop in the bats and some speed to be able to score runs," Guimbarda said. "This is a team which will be a lot like last year, and hopefully, we can accomplish some of the same things. We want to be able to compete for the conference title and just be prepared for districts which will tough, like last year with teams like Oakville in the district."