New coaches, new heights for Scott City softball team

Coaching changes often have a negative effect on sports teams: A new face heading an established program, long-time players adapting to new schemes and the proverbial feeling-out period that, hopefully, gives way to an enhanced product on the field.

That didn't happen with the Scott City softball program. For the Rams and first-year head coach Kaitlin Zink, it's been a seamless transition.

Zink and Scott City are headed to the program's first-ever final four this week as the Rams face Kennett at 5 p.m. Friday in a Class 1 state semifinal at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff. The winner advances to Saturday's 1 p.m. championship game at the same venue.

For the Rams, it's a culmination of years of hard work dating to their middle school days.

A whirlwind year

Scott City softball head coach Kaitlin Zink, center right, and assistant coach Lance Amick, center left, stand amongst their players, from left, Macy Hall, Michaela Kiefer, Lyndsie Robert, Jamie Glastetter, Becky Burger, Bella Bowers and Valerie Bahr, as they prepare for their team's trip to state Friday. (Laura Simon)

For Zink, it's the culmination of one whirlwind year of change. In the frame of just over a year, Zink has gone from playing softball at Southeast Missouri State to getting married to graduating to coaching high school softball -- all without a break.

"It's been pretty crazy," Zink said earlier this week before a Rams practice. "There's been some days where I feel like my head's spinning, but I just try to keep telling myself and keep telling the girls that we've got to enjoy every minute of this. I'm loving it. I've got a great group of girls."

Zink, a substitute teacher in the Scott City school district, is the wife of John Logan Zink, a utility infielder for the Southeast baseball program. She admitted it's been difficult juggling coaching and a career with being the wife of a Southeast student and ballplayer, but the rewards are worth it.

"He's always been supportive and always been there for me and helps me do anything I need," Zink said. "Whenever I go home, he helps to calm me down."

Zink the baseball player is in the midst of a 10-day road trip while the Rams are playing postseason ball, so Zink the coach often has to lean on someone else to help her squad down the stretch.

That's where her assistant coach came in.

A valued assistant

Lance Amick, a long-time coach and assistant in several sports at Scott City over the past 12 seasons agreed early this spring to be Zink's assistant, and their working relationship is a big reason the Rams find themselves vying for Missouri's first-ever spring softball state championship.

"Any time I have a question, it's easy to go to him," Zink said. "He's been in this place before, going to state, so he knows all about it. It's been nice to be able to go to him and just ask questions."

Amick, who coached Scott City's baseball team to a state championship in 2008, has taught physical education at Scott City for the past 12 years. He was more than willing to help Zink through any potential rough patches.

"Being a first-year head coach, there's a lot of things behind the scenes that people don't realize, like managing budgets, field work, equipment, inventory -- different things like that where we've helped along the way," Amick said. "Her knowledge is second to none as far as how to make a ballplayer. There's a lot of game strategy and things along the way that you don't think about -- just different scenarios through a game that maybe here or there that I think I've helped her with."

A bridge to a gloried past

Amick is more than an assistant. He's a bridge to the past that connects the current Scott City players with Zink's youthful exuberance.

"He's been a state champion," Rams junior shortstop Lyndsie Robert said. "He knows how it feels, and he wants us to experience it now, too. And that's what so special to us because he wants us to get there."

After former coach Amy Pobst resigned to spend more time with her new family, Scott City athletic director Kerry Thompson didn't have to look far to find a capable replacement. Zink was an assistant to Thompson, the Rams' girls basketball coach, throughout the winter and proved herself ready to assume control of the softball program.

"Just her knowledge of the game and her work ethic," Thompson said about the attributes that made Zink a perfect fit for the Rams. "She's done really good with the girls."

Thompson added he's been impressed with the strides the Rams have made on the field under their first-year coach.

"They've played so well as a team," he said. "They root for each other. Hitting-wise, as a team, they've improved so much throughout the year. They really have a lot of team chemistry."

Forming a bond

Zink has leaned heavily on Amick throughout the season, and the two have formed a bond that filters down to the team.

"She's really close to us, and we always have a fun time," Scott City senior catcher Macy Hall said. "We always have fun at practice. It's always fun to look forward to practice."

Zink can be a bit unconventional at times, which endears her to her squad. Last month Zink planned an Easter egg hunt and egg toss for her team that turned into a rollicking egg-throwing free-for-all worthy of "Animal House" fame.

Needless to say, a true bond was formed.

"One day we had a water-balloon fight," Hall added. "She keeps it fun. And the reason we started playing was to have fun, and it really has been a fun year."

Senior pitcher Becky Burger, who will draw the starting assignment in the circle for the Rams on Friday, admitted to some apprehension at the beginning of the season.

"The first day that we had a meeting with her, we were kind of, 'Oh gosh, it's a new coach, what do we expect,'" Burger said. "A couple of us were a little bit scared because we didn't know what to expect having a new coach. ... But I think that in that first practice, she kind of put all our worries to the side and showed us that we're going to work hard, but also that we're going to have fun.

"The one thing that she stressed all season was that we're playing for that little girl that loved the game from the beginning and has come this far."

Robert agreed that the transition to playing for two new coaches was smooth and is one of the reasons why the Rams are two wins from a state title.

"Getting a coach coming in that cared so much, just like coach Pobst did, really kept our program going," Robert said. "She had all these fun things going on. We had an Easter egg hunt, and we had egg fights, and water balloon fights, and sprayed each other with water hoses all the time. And she always gets us little gifts, like we had cupcakes and everything. She's so easy to talk to and relate to, and she's taught me so much, not only about softball, but how to mesh with your team and how to talk to each other in tones you can really communicate with.

"Her and Coach Amick have taught me how to be a better player and a better person."

A fairy-tale ride

The Rams players don't want this fairytale ride to end soon.

"Is this really happening right now? It still doesn't feel real, honestly," Burger laughed.

For Zink, this experience strikes close to home.

"I always got a bunch of crap from my sister because she went to state, and I never went to state in anything," said Zink with just a touch of jealousy. "So now I'm being able to kind of rub it in her face. I'm going to state as a coach.

"Man, it's just been absolutely nuts. I can't even believe this is happening. But I'm trying to love every second of it."