VB senior Scherrey exceeding expectations

Natalie Scherrey has exceeded expectations. Not only for herself but also for her team. A year ago, the Van Buren senior center fielder hit just .217. But in the latter part of that season, Scherrey made a hitting adjustment and began doing a better job of hitting. That has carried over to this season. Scherrey currently leads the Lady Pointers in hitting with a .402 average. She also leads in on-base percentage with .495 and also has a .519 average with runners in scoring position, also tops on the squad. On Monday, Scherrey went 3-for-4 — her second three-hit game for the season — as the Lady Pointers closed out the regular season with a 7-0 win at Rogers Heritage in 7A-West play. “Really, this year I just focused on being confident in myself and knowing my abilities on what I can do and trying to focus on those,” Scherrey said. ?(Monday’s) game was just a tribute to that mentality, just knowing I can do it and knowing I can win every at-bat and really having that confidence and belief in myself to do it.” What Scherrey did was shift from being a right-handed slap hitter to batting from the left side. “Last year (after the switch), my batting average went from like .200 on the right side to like .300 on the left side, so that was like a small testament of what I might be able to achieve on the left side,” Scherrey said. “Then this year, I feel like it showed that risk-taking, it was worth it. “It was worth it for the team, it was worth it for my coaches to let me try it out, it was worth it to me to spend all that time in practice to completely switch over, and then this year, I couldn’t be any more prouder and blessed and excited that I got that opportunity to do that. Especially my senior year to finish off this well is great.” Scherrey also gives Van Buren an unusual one-two punch of left-handed hitters at the top of the lineup. She bats second in the order behind fellow senior and left-handed hitter Caroline Davis, who is batting .307. “We like those two at the top; we feel like one of them’s going to get on base and that’s been the case most of the season; one usually gets on base,” Van Buren coach Andy Williams said. ”(Against Heritage) we got both of them on base. “If Caroline gets on, I told Natalie the bottom line is somehow (Davis) gets to second, and (Scherrey) does a good job of putting the ball in play and a lot of times getting a base hit. But if one of them gets on base, it’s kind of our philosophy with those two and then let the meat of the lineup try to drive them in.” Scherrey said that she enjoys her role in the Lady Pointer lineup, batting second. “Honestly, I love being in that position,” Scherrey said. “Lead-off is great, but for me I feel like I always work better and do better when I have a little bit of pressure put on me, and so Caroline kind of starting it off and getting on base leaves me a lot of room to just do my thing and work with her.” Monday’s win at Heritage also continued Van Buren’s hot streak of late. The Lady Pointers have now won four straight games, and with Monday’s win, gave them the No. 4 seed from the 7A-West as the 7A State Tournament starts Thursday in Cabot. That win streak came on the heels of a five-game losing streak, which gave Van Buren (15-11, 7-7) a 3-7 conference record. But Scherrey said she had faith the team would bounce back. “Honestly this season, I just knew it was going to be kind of a win some, lose some season,” she said. “When we were (3-7 in conference), I had total confidence that we would come back, being in the position that we were and the teams we were going to face, I knew that we would come back because we had teams that we had beat earlier on. ... Honestly, I was completely confident but I’m even more proud with what we’ve done this year. “Out of my expectations, we exceeded them. Our whole team did way better than I think anyone was thinking that we would.” Scherrey, a four-year starter for the Lady Pointers who has signed to play at Ranger Junior College in Texas, is now ready for another trip to state. Which means another encounter with a nearby foe. Van Buren will be playing Southside for the fourth consecutive season at state when the two face off at 3 p.m. Thursday in an opening-round game at Cabot. The Lady Pointers eliminated Southside in Scherrey’s freshman and junior seasons, while Southside won two years ago when Scherrey was a sophomore. Van Buren also beat Southside earlier this season.

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Van Buren High School Athletics

VB SENIOR SCHERREY EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 5/9/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford