First-year Starter Schoening Showing Leadership Skills
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usRandi Schoening stops short of including herself among Campbell High’s softball team leaders, but there’s no doubt that her workmanlike day-to-day approach sets the kind of example any coach looks for.
As the Sabers begin the OIA post-season tournament this week, Schoening has emerged as a key contributor on and off the field as a first-year starter in right field.
Campbell entered its season-ending doubleheader with Waianae over the weekend tied for first with Mililani (at 8-2) in the OIA’s Red West Conference. A first- or second-place finish would give Campbell a first-round bye Wednesday and move it into a televised quarterfinal matchup Thursday at Central Oahu Regional Park. The semifinals and championship game will take place Friday and Saturday, respectively, with OC-16 set to show the title game live. (Pairings and game times were finalized after press time.)
The top five finishers at this week’s OIA tournament will earn the league’s berths for the upcoming state softball tournament. And while the Sabers are focusing in on the OIA this week, the state tourney is much in their thoughts already, according to Schoening, who has been doing the math.
“Campbell has finished seventh, fifth and third the last three years (at states),” she noted. “That gives us more motivation. We only missed it by a game last year, so we’re motivated to be much better this year.”
Within the program, Schoening would qualify as a self-proclaimed late bloomer.“My game came on kind of late,” she admitted.
Mostly a stand-by last season as a junior when a senior-dominated team finished third in the Division I state tournament, Schoening relied on her work ethic to get her through a long season of practicing hard daily without the rewards of significant playing time.
“There were moments when it was frustrating, but I just had to keep working hard in practice,” she said. “The starters knew the game better. I didn’t expect as much last year because we had so many senior starters back. After every practice, I knew there were things that I could do better, and I would try to work hard on those things the next day. There will always be off days. You have to make sure you try even harder the next practice.”
She credits her athletic upbringing with fueling her will to work. “We’re kind of a competitive family,” said Schoening, who lives with parents Neill and Renee and younger brother Kamaka. “That keeps us going along. We don’t like to stay home too much. My parents are the ones who motivated me to do as much as I can. If I’m going to go (and do something), I’m going to go all out.”
For Schoening, there was no direct line to softball. She played the next best thing, however, taking up baseball first. She also played three years of soccer at Campbell, earning All-Conference honors this past season.
“It kind of grew on me,” she said of softball. When she made the transition to it, she admitted that she was still in the baseball mode. At her first softball practice, she took a large lead-off of first base, only to learn she had to go “back to the bag,” as lead-offs aren’t allowed in softball.
“Over the years, my interest in it has grown,” said Schoening, who currently hits third in the Saber batting hierarchy. “Once I got into high school, I thought I could be good at it.”
This season, especially lately, the emphasis has been more on the team’s mental edge, according to Schoening. “Our defense is pretty good, but to win we have to make sure we’re mentally on it. We have to control the way we think. Coach (David Perreira) said we’re physically conditioned and that we have to get mentally ready. Physically you can do anything if the mind is right. (Physically), we’ve been going all out all season, but without the mental conditioning, you’re not ready for the pressure moments, and coach has been helping us with that.”
The state softball championships will run May 12-15 at both the Patsy Mink Central Oahu Regional Park and Rainbow Wahine Stadium on the University of Hawaii campus.
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