By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
When the Notre Dame fast-pitch softball team opens the season at a tournament in Tennessee this weekend, coach Joe Stephenson will have five new names on his lineup card. That’s how many starters the defending 9th Region champions lost to graduation and injury, but one of their replacements has seen quite a lot of playing time.
Kayari Suganuma, a .563 hitter for Cooper last spring, transferred to Notre Dame during the off-season and gives the Pandas another proven veteran to rely on.
“The great thing about getting her, other than her work ethic and great personality, is she brings us a true lead-off hitter,” Stephenson said. “That’s going to be huge this year to set the table for our offense.”
Suganuma’s impressive batting average wasn’t the only reason she was voted Division I Player of the Year by local coaches last season. She also led the state in stolen bases with 52 and was a reliable fielder at shortstop.
A native of Japan, Suganuma’s family moved here two years ago when her father was transferred to the local Toyota headquarters. She enrolled at Cooper and became the starting shortstop on the varsity softball team as an eighth-grader.
When the Toyota headquarters was moved to another city at the end of last year, Suganuma wanted to stay here and finish high school. Her parents found a local family for her to live with, but she wouldn’t have been eligible to play sports for any high school in Boone County.
So the talented sophomore transferred to Notre Dame and joined a fast-pitch team that lost two of its top hitters from last year’s 21-10 championship season to graduation.
The top returning hitter for the Pandas is senior shortstop Lindsey Meier, a three-year starter who batted .400 (46 of 115) with 47 runs scored. In the 9th Region championship game against Dixie Heights, she went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
Stephenson wants to have both Meier and Suganuma in the starting lineup so he plans to “play them both back and forth at second and shortstop and see what we settle into by the end of the year.”
Notre Dame’s other returning senior starter is pitcher Lauren Durstock, who posted a 17-10 record in her rookie season in the circle. She was named most valuable player in last year’s regional tournament after giving up only two runs on two hits in the championship game.
“She only has two years of pitching under her belt and last year was the first year she was THE pitcher for us,” coach Stephenson said. “She started off a little rocky, but by the end year she was settling into it. I would think she’ll see a big step forward this year.”
Two sophomores who were in last year’s lineup – catcher Serena Paterno and outfielder Olivia Meier — are also returning, but shoulder surgery has sidelined outfielder Maddie Prospero this season.
That left Stephenson with four positions to fill on his lineup card during pre-season practice.
“You’ve got to be able to play defense for us to crack into the starting lineup,” the coach said. “You’ve got to know the situations and what to do. I think there’s going to be a lot of teaching this year. They’ve got to run stuff the way we want it done on defense.”