It might come as a surprise to some people that Kim Stiles expected this year's University of Charleston softball team to go through some growing pains.
After all, the Golden Eagles were fresh off a berth in the Division II Women's College World Series - winning a program-record 50 games in the process - and were returning several key pieces of that group. But Stiles, who came to UC from Davis & Elkins, understood that this Charleston team might still be different from the group before it.
This year's team has looked to a talented group of freshmen to step in and fill the shoes of some of the leaders who left. With that came the challenge of everyone getting accustomed to new teammates, learning roles and going through some tough early stretches.
"We have some young kids in key positions, so it took them some time to settle in," Stiles said. "They've really stepped into those roles nicely and have had a lot of help from our upperclassmen, which has been important."
But now it appears things have started to turn around - thanks, in part, to the high level of output from those freshmen who are playing big roles.
The Golden Eagles (29-12, 17-5 Mountain East) have won 18 of their last 22 games and are just a game behind No. 12 West Virginia Wesleyan for first place in the Mountain East Conference's South division. Haleigh Christopher, Monica Carter and Karli Pinkerton lead that group of talented freshmen who have played key roles in the team's success.
Those three are among the team's top five hitters this season, with Christopher (who played in high school at Spring Valley) and Carter both hitting better than .400 for the season and sitting in the top five in the race for the MEC batting title. Christopher's 12 home runs gives her five more than any other player in the conference and is tied for No. 10 nationally.
Earlier this season, Carter, from Avon, Indiana, had a 17-game hit streak for the Golden Eagles while Sissonville's Pinkerton has reached base in all but five of Charleston's 41 games so far this season.
The way those freshmen have emerged and played well has been a pleasant surprise to Stiles, who said it's always tough to know what to expect when a player makes the step up to college softball from the prep level.
"The game is a little quicker, you have to learn how to adjust to things moving a little fast and that takes some time," Stiles said. "We've got a really good group of freshmen here who have been able to make that adjustment pretty quickly. They've been very sharp."
With time winding down heading toward the end of the regular season, the Golden Eagles appear to be playing some of their best softball in recent weeks. But even with their recent string of success, they are trying to not get too ahead of themselves and focus on the task at hand of looking to keep getting better heading into the postseason.
"We're just starting to click. They're starting to understand what we're wanting them to do and it's really started to look smooth out there and hopefully we can keep that going," Stiles said. "We don't like to talk about streaks or anything like that because we don't want to risk anything, but we feel like we've been really moving in the right direction."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.