Loyd, Krieger, Wenger end Tiger careers

SULLY - Although New London High School's softball team lost a regional final Monday for a chance to go to state, the Tigers head coach was more disappointed in another aspect of the season-ending loss.

It was not the three errors the Tigers committed, although will usually raise a coach's ire. It wasn't the unearned runs Lynnville-Sully scored or the lack of hits (three) New London had in the 5-0 loss.

'We lose three good seniors and that takes a lot of wallop out of our batting order,” New London head coach Mark Chiri said. That realization, the fact that three players were seniors and would not play for the Tigers again, was Chiri's biggest disappointment in the game Monday.

Chiri and New London fans saw the final game of seniors Kara Krieger, Laney Loyd and Alexa Wenger.

'They are really the heart and soul of this team,” New London head coach Mark Chiri said. 'They were what made us this year.”

'We've all been pretty close since we were little,” Wenger said. 'We've always been together, practicing and playing. I think that helped a lot.”

Being one of the final 16 teams in Class 1A was something the Tigers did not see coming.

'If you would have said before the season that we would get this far with an eighth-grader and a freshman pitcher and neither one pitched an inning last year, I don't think anyone would have believed you,” Chiri said.

Loyd didn't think she was a believer at the beginning of the season, but deep down she always believed.

'I feel like in the beginning we were all nervous because our pitching wasn't as strong as it was in the past, but Elly (Manning) stepped up tremendously and killed it this year,” Loyd said. ''It went surprisingly well. We were so ready to be here.”

The Tigers started the postseason with an 11-1 win over Holy Trinity, then they were supposed to lose to Winfield-Mount Union and its pitcher, but scored a 5-1 win, before clipping North Mahaska 3-2.

'I think it was the Winfield game when we really started to take off,” Krieger said. 'We got on top and we were really confident. Obviously Madie Anderson is a really good pitcher and we were hitting the ball very well. That helped us with the North Mahaska game. We just had the confidence.”

New London had a 10-14 record last season and finished 9-7 this year but made the run to within a game of going to state.

The run is familiar to the three seniors as the Tigers made it to state in 2016 when they finished fifth. They also went to the state tournament in 2018.

'We have all been here since eighth grade,” Loyd said. 'We've been to a few state tournaments. I just hope we were good enough players to have the younger girls look up to us.”

In the year of the coronavirus, Krieger again led in RBIs with 14 and her .395 average led the Tigers as well. She had two triples and six doubles. Loyd connected on a home run, a triple, three doubles and had 11 RBI on a .268 batting average. Wenger had an OBP of .286.

'As the season went on, I got more confident and we grew closer as a team and that was nice,” Wenger said.

Loyd has been a starter since she was an eighth-grader when she had a batting average of .377 and the Tigers had a record of 26-11 on the way to the state tournament. The Tigers placed fifth.

All three started their freshmen year when the New London record was 15-14. Loyd raised her average to .394 with two home runs and seven doubles. Her 21 runs batted in were second on the team. Krieger was the team leader in RBIs with 24, batting .333 with nine doubles and a triple. Wenger had an on-base percentage of .275 with five doubles.

As sophomores, the trio helped New London to a 20-10 ledger. Krieger hit three home runs, three doubles and batted .360 with an OBP of .436. Loyd brought in 30 runs with two homers, eight doubles on a .473 batting average. Wenger had four doubles, a triple, 18 RBIs and a .349 average.

Last season, both Krieger and Loyd had two home runs and a triple. Krieger 12 doubles, 28 RBI to lead the team and a .387 average. Loyd's average was an outstanding .577 to lead the team with 14 RBI and 10 doubles. Wenger compiled a .333 average.

'We have hitting on Sundays and we always try to show up and show that putting in extra work pays off,” Krieger said. 'I think that's the legacy I want to leave is that if you put in work, it will pay off in the end.”

Losing the three seniors was the coach's biggest take-away from the game Monday.

'That's how it goes,” Chiri said. 'Those are huge losses to fill.”