KEY WEST

With only four home games on its 20-game schedule, the Key West softball team will spend a lot of time on the road during the 2010 campaign.

The Lady Conchs started their road travels last weekend in the Westminster Christian Preseason Classic. This afternoon, they hit the highway for their first regular season contest against District 16-4A opponent Mater Academy.

For the more experienced players, it's business as usual, but the large group of freshmen and first time varsity players will have a tough time adjusting to all the travel against some very good teams, especially in the Speedball and Slam Fest tournaments in March.

Third year coach Steve Wells said it is very difficult to get teams to make the trip to Key West, so if the Lady Conchs want a good schedule they have to travel.

"It's tough getting teams down here," he said. "The hotels are expensive at something like $150 a night. We had South Dade cancel what would have been our first home game on Feb. 20. I called them back and said we would travel up there to play them. Right now, I'm a traveling show and last year I felt like a truck driver on the road, but that's what I've got to do. It's tough. A lot of the schools in Miami have schools less than an hour away and they would rather stay in town than travel to Key West."

In the preseason tournament last weekend, the Lady Conchs lost both games, but played tough against Ferguson in the second contest of the tourney.

Senior Madison Disson was the only returning infielder to make the trip. Senior first base and pitcher Lauren Wells was competing with the cheerleaders, second base Kendall Galvan is still recovering from a soccer injury and shortstop Ceci Cervantes was out of town, leaving freshmen Mikayla Stansbury at short, Devin Osterhoudt at second and sophomore Alexis Averette to fill in the gaps.

According to Wells, the underclassmen infielders turned a few heads at the preseason classic. It was the outfield and hitting that really needed help.

"We only had a total of five hits in two games up there, but we did get on base," Wells said. "We weren't really able to do much running, I think, because the girls were a little confused with the signals, but we'll get that worked out, too. Like I said, it's going to take our lumps but I hope it's for the right reason and in the regular season."

To shore up the outfield, Wells will start Andrea Niles, who also missed the preseason trip, in left, freshman Lauren Schoneck in center and he's still looking for a mature player to slot in right for today's matchup with Mater.

"I really like Lauren Schoneck," the coach said. "She is a hustler and was the only outfielder that did anything good. She is the only one that stepped up. I'm going to try to keep her in the games. She is one of those kids that gives 110 percent and is hard to keep off the field. We're going to try to find the right combination in the outfield, that's going to be our weak point."

At catcher, Leci Archer and Corrin Haskins will split time, but Haskins will be at second today due to injuries.

Starting infield today will be Averette at first, Haskins at second, Osterhoudt will slide to short with Disson at third. Stansbury injured a hand Wednesday precipitating Osterhoudt's move to short.

"Right now, I've been going through more issues than I care to," said Wells. "Normally, it's going to be Devin at second until Kendall returns and Corrin at second since she is more of a utility player."

On the rubber, Lauren Wells will pitch the first couple of innings, according to her dad and coach, and he'll bring in either sophomore Rachel Quad or Savannah Hawthorne, thereafter, who will be pretty much the starting pitchers for the season.

Wells said he thinks the district is relatively weak, but knows the other 15 games will be tough. The Lady Conchs play each district team only once, but will face Marathon home and away for what should be a very good series.

With players still missing, the first part of the season will be a puzzle, but Wells said he's working for this year as well as the future.

"We've got some good athletes and I want to make the program better by getting more good athletes -- girls that can run and girls that can throw. I want to get more speed out there and make the game a lot faster," said Wells. "It's definitely going to be a work in progress this year. I think eventually we're going to do OK. It's just a matter of getting my team back. It's hard putting one here and one here. There's no continuity. I guess we'll find out pretty soon how it all works."

rcooke@keysnews.com