Cole brings humor to the plate

Senior+catcher+Hannah+Cole+swings+away+during+a+game+on+April.+6+at+Williams+Field.++The+Panthers+won+the+doubleheader+against+Morehead+State+8-1+and+14-0.

Jason Howell

Senior catcher Hannah Cole swings away during a game on April. 6 at Williams Field. The Panthers won the doubleheader against Morehead State 8-1 and 14-0.

Sean Hastings, Staff Reporter

Senior catcher Hannah Cole isn’t only expected to be successful at the plate, but she can always be counted on to make you laugh.

“She’s just goofy and funny,” head coach Angie Nicholson said. “You can always count on her for a good laugh.”

Nicholson said that Cole’s humor helps the team a lot with staying relaxed.

Cole leads the team with a .375 batting average, with eight RBI’s.

Nicholson said everyone looks to her to do a good job at the plate and drive in the runs.

“The way she hits, she’s got to be put in the lineup somewhere,” Nicholson said.

Cole has always been the type of player to hit home-runs, and she currently leads the team with four home-runs on the year.

She tries to not think about anything when she is at the plate.

“I try not to think as much because that’s my biggest issue,” Cole said. “So I try to clear my head and just worry about hitting the ball.”

Cole shows leadership on and off the field aside being able to make the team laugh.

She said she came in expecting to be an All-Star when she was a freshman because that was the case in high school.

“I came in thinking I was going to be the all-star since I was the all-star in high school,” Cole said. “It was like a reality check basically and I realized everybody on the team was the all-star of their high school teams.”

Cole realized that she was going to have to work a lot harder because nothing would just be handed to her and she would have to earn her spot. Cole has helped this year’s freshman with that same problem.

“They came in expecting the same thing,” Cole said. “They learned pretty fast that they have to work if they want to be a starter.”

Cole said she told that it will take some time. Cole said she will help the rest of the girls make their schedules.

“If they have problems, I’m like a schedule freak and will make it for them,” Cole said.

Former assistant coach Jason Dorey always got on Cole about hitting and catching during her freshman year.

She said it got to her because she wasn’t performing as well as she would have liked, with the help of former Panther Abby Wood, she was able to get over that hump.

“(Wood) was the one that talked me through it and told me it’s only going to make me better,” Cole said.

The advice paid off for Cole, because her sophomore year she beat out Wood who was in her senior year to be the starting catcher.

“It was hard because we were best friends,” Cole said.

She said it was nothing personal, and is set to be in Wood’s wedding.

Cole hasn’t always been just a softball player. She grew up playing volleyball and running track.

Cole played volleyball from junior high all throughout high school, and ran track starting her junior year when her high school first got a team.

Cole always put softball first, but if she had a track meet, she would go to that over a softball practice.

Cole always knew she wanted to either play softball or volleyball, but realized in her freshman year that her number one sport was softball.

“I felt like I just clicked more with softball,” Cole said.

Cole didn’t really look anywhere besides Eastern when deciding schools.

“I just basically only looked at the surrounding schools in this area,” Cole said. “I didn’t want to go very far from home.”

Cole’s decision was also influenced by her relationship with former head coach Kim Schuette.

“I was really close with the coach here because I had gone to her camps since junior high,” Cole said. “So I knew this was the only place I wanted to go.”

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].