SOFTBALL: Irwin's leadership helping young Pride develop

At one point or another, every team needs a leader. Mountain Pointe softball has had one since day one of the 2008 season.

Since she was a freshman, Lauren Irwin has been shaped and molded to be the go-to-senior for advice, the model citizen and the emotional leader of Pride.

"You absolutely need someone like that," said MP coach Mel Wendell. "We're just fortunate to actually have one."

Irwin, who's signed to play at Eastern New Mexico next year, plays every position save for pitcher and catcher for Mountain Pointe.

"(Irwin) will do anything that you ask her to do," Wendell said. "If somebody's hurt and we have a position that's open, (Irwin) will be like, ‘Oh, I'll do it for you guys.' She'll be there for the team no matter what."

And while Irwin is fourth on the team in hitting, batting .500 with runners in scoring position and leads the team in sacrifice bunts, her biggest impact isn't something she does directly on the field.

For a team with only three upperclassmen on its roster, Irwin's leadership - along with that of junior Danielle Muniz and senior Chrystine Bohman - has lifted the maturity level of the young squad.

"(Without Irwin), obviously, we'd not be where we need to be mature-wise," Wendell said. "She and (Bohman) and (Muniz) have definitely helped to bring those young girls up and show them what it takes to be a varsity softball player, what it takes to be in the tournament, in the championship game, in the state playoffs. Because they've been there, they have the experience.

"If we didn't have that, it'd be a much different year."

The advantage of having a player be able to relate instructions to a younger teammate is that every now and then it can help get a point across, Wendell said.

"I think sometimes when you're younger, it's better when a peer tells you, because you're like, ‘Oh, that's OK, that's my peer, she knows,'" Irwin said.

But Irwin's been in the underclassmen's shoes - "I've kind of went through that already and gotten home and been like, ‘Oh, why did she say that to me?'" she said - and as such, the outfielder tries not to overstep her bounds.

"I try to lay off a little bit because I don't want them to hate me because I'm always on them," Irwin said, "but if a coach is telling us something over and over again, and I see them getting kind of agitated, I just say, ‘It's OK. You've just got to do this.'"

"It's been nice to have her around and her consistency, being very consistent in everything that she does," Wendell added. "It adds a lot of control and normalcy to our team."