Rebuilding teams often benefit from having an experienced, proving leader on the field. For Nazareth softball, that player is Jordan Barnes.
The senior catcher has played on the Roadrunners’ varsity team since her freshman season. She’s seen just about every situation imaginable, and first-year coach Chris Van Degraft relies on her to set the tone.
Barnes has embraced that role and has thrived in it.
Nazareth (7-14) has won two of its last four contests, including a 14-13 victory against Neuqua Valley in nine innings on Thursday. Of the 15 players on the Roadrunners’ roster, 12 are underclassmen. Nazareth has three freshmen and nine sophomores and is improving steadily, but any young team can have its share of exasperating moments.
“It’s kind of crazy being on this side,” Barnes said of being a senior on a young team. “I remember when I was a freshman and how much I looked up to the seniors. I wanted to be exactly like them.
“Sometimes if someone makes an error, you want to remind them that you’ve been in that position. I want to help them develop into their best player and person. That’s really all I want in this role.”
Barnes got off to a slow start this season, but she has heated up in recent weeks. She’s hitting .412 with a .507 on-base percentage and has walked nine times compared to only four strikeouts. She has nine doubles, three home runs and 22 RBIs for the Roadrunners.
“I think I was pressing and hitting the pitcher’s pitch, not my own,” she said of her earliest at-bats this season.
She’s taken ownership of the pitching staff, which includes sophomores Allyson Layne, Amanda Myers and Olivia Mardirosian. Barnes heped nurture the sophomores as they weathered some turbulence early in the year.
“The leadership of the staff has been invaluable. She handles the staff so well,” Van Degraft said. “She’s got such a good arm and controls the game from behind the plate. If you walk someone or give up a hit, they have to earn a stolen base or a run. She’s doing great in that respect.”
Barnes’ experience and desire to impart her wisdom are important characteristics for a young team in the first year of a new era.
"If I have anything at all to do with their improvement, by calling pitches or by the way I talk to them, I just want to make an impact," Barnes said. "I’m going to really miss them.”
Next season, the La Grange Highlands resident will head to IUPUI to play softball. Barnes said she bonded with Jaguars coach Elisabeth Beirne, and they had a connection that was “like talking to a friend, not a coach” during the recruiting process. She committed after visiting the campus in November.
But she still has work to do with the Roadrunners.
“You want everything to come together in the postseason,” Barnes said. “I feel the main goal is that we can get as far as we can in the playoffs. You can already see our development. So as long as we play our hardest, that’s all we can ask for.”