After watching West Prairie and Augusta Southeastern co-op for football and girls’ basketball this season, that agreement will also reach into the spring sports including softball.
Perhaps there is no one better fitted to lead the WP/SE softball team than Cyle Rigg who will enter his first season as the head softball coach.
Rigg, who is a Colchester native and Colchester High School graduate, was the head baseball coach at his high school alma mater almost 25 years ago before taking over administrative and coaching duties in Augusta for the past two decades.
Now, Rigg is at the helm of the co-op softball program and becomes the third coach in three years for several of the West Prairie players.
Yet, after years of coaching high school baseball, but never coaching softball at the high school level, Rigg doesn’t see a lot of difference between the two sports.
“I don’t know if it’s a lot different, but in the grand scheme of things, the thing I like about softball is everything is much shorter,” said Rigg. “I feel like you can get so many more repetitions in compared to baseball like we did in our first couple of practices. I was probably a little bit short on what my plans were because we got so much done so quickly.”
“All those things added up, so that was kind of my adjustment period,” Rigg continued. “In terms of coaching (girls), I don’t really treat it much different than the boys.”
Rigg also served as an assistant girls basketball coach for WP/SE this past season, so he has had an opportunity to get acquainted with several of the players.
He has also been very pleased thus far with the way the players from both schools have progressed and accepted him as well.
“These girls have responded well,” said Rigg. “Of course, I knew the six Southeastern girls and I already knew four of the West Prairie girls, so we already developed a relationship with them. It’s been positive and good for me, too.”
The co-op has seemed to bring out a renewed enthusiasm at both schools as 20 players reported for the start of spring practice.
After both schools finished last year with a combined 11-38 mark, Rigg is excited at this new opportunity.
“That’s been really good,” said Rigg regarding the numbers. “Six from Southeastern and 14 from West Prairie, so numbers-wise, that’s great for us. That means we can run our practices more efficiently. We’ve only got four seniors, but what I’ve seen out of those seniors, I really like. Our sophomore class is very heavy, so it’s going to be exciting to see what they can do.”
“It’s nice when you put two schools together,” added Rigg. “Southeastern’s got a nice mix and West Prairie’s got a nice mix, so you put them together and you’ve got a pretty solid team. That’s the beauty of a co-op.
Of the players Rigg has seen so far in practice, getting to know who his pitching staff will be is a priority to evaluate.
“We’ve got (senior) Adrianna Starks from Southeastern and (freshman) Arianna Soule from West Prairie as two of our pitchers I feel we will be relying on,” said Rigg. “I know we have some others pitchers that are really working on some things and getting a lot better. I know (sophomore) Kaylee Jackson and (sophomore) Sara Shelton has done really well and (senior) Maicyn Shipman has been working really hard, so it’s nice to see those girls put in the effort.”
“I’ve got confidence in those girls that they’ll do a really nice job,” Rigg added.
Regarding player evaluations and setting goals, Rigg always looks beyond the on-the-field performance when getting to know his players.
“I always set up the season in thirds,” said Rigg. “The first third of the season is getting to know each other. Are they respectful to their teammates, the umpires, the coaches. All that stuff plays a huge factor in what success looks like. Those are the little things I want to focus on right now. Wins and losses-wise, it’s hard to tell right now. I think towards the end of the year, I’ll have a better answer.”
Another factor that Rigg will face is getting to know who their opponents are this spring. In the past, West Prairie and Southeastern have participated in different conferences, but with West Prairie being the host school for the co-op, the Cyclones will be members of the Prairieland Conference South Division instead of the West Central Conference that Rigg is more familiar with.
“Obviously, we’re playing way more north than I’m used to, so I don’t know those teams as well,” commented Rigg. “I’m more familiar with the teams down here. From what I’ve seen in practice, I know we can stack up against a lot of teams and it’ll come down to the little things like can we throw strikes and put the bat on the ball.”
Most importantly with his background, Rigg feels his familiarity with both schools will help him guide the new softball co-op into a new era.
“Obviously, I know the Southeastern girls pretty well, but I also know a lot of parents and players from West Prairie, too,” said Rigg. “I’m familiar with them and I know they’ve always been pretty big in their baseball and their softball. There’s a lot of passionate people here who care about it. Hopefully, I can bring the right type of leadership to help them along.”
