Trio of Lady Wildcats shoot best scores at Cassville Tournament

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

The Cassville girls golf team loves playing on its home course.

On Thursday, three of the five Lady Wildcats on the squad put up their best 18-hole scores of their careers, led by senior Taylor Yarnall’s 21st-place finish out of the 62 total golfers at the Cassville Tournament.

“She loves playing in our own tournament, so she was happy with that,” Bagby said.

Sophomore Paislee Bolinger and junior Molly Pickett also posted career bests. Both golfers began playing last year, giving Bagby a clear perspective on how much they have developed in a relatively short time.

“From just having picked up a club then to where they are now, they’ve shown a tremendous improvement this year,” Bagby said.

Bolinger came to golf after previously playing softball. While the swing came somewhat naturally to her, Bagby said she initially became frustrated as she learned the game.

This season, however, things began to click.

“One day on the range, she had the driver out and it just kind of started clicking for her that day,” Bagby said. “Especially on days where she can’t drive her well, she hits it far enough that she’ll be able to, I think, see her scores keep improving.”

Pickett also has made significant strides. Bagby said she has become particularly consistent with her ball striking, putting herself in good position off the tee and down the fairway.

For both golfers, the next step will be improving their short games.

“Once you get up there on the green and being able to shape, you save shots around there,” Bagby said.

Yarnall entered the fall with postseason expectations after earning All-Conference honors last year.

Bagby said she has continued to improve, particularly around the greens. On Thursaday, he saw her beginning to save strokes in the short game.

“If they can average two putts a hole for the round, they’ll be doing pretty good and they’ll be gaining shots on the rest of the field,” Bagby said.

Yarnall will have an opportunity to make a postseason push as Cassville moves toward the conference and district tournaments.

Her sister, Abbigail Yarnall also has been a key part of the team, although her volleyball schedule has limited her golf participation. She competed at Carthage recently and showed improvement, particularly with her ball striking off the tee. Bagby said she finished with Cassville’s second-best score that day.

She was also an All-Conference golfer last year, and Bagby expects her to compete at the conference tournament. Her availability for the district tournament remains uncertain because it falls on the same day as a volleyball game.

Gracelyn Sanders, a new student at Cassville this year, is another developing golfer. She picked up the clubs for the first time this season and is still working on making consistent contact.

Bagby said the hope is to see the same type of progression next season that Cassville has seen from Bolinger and Pickett this year.

The Lady Wildcats have had to navigate another challenge throughout the season in the form of extreme heat.

Missouri State High School Activities Association heat guidelines have limited when and how the team can practice, forcing Cassville to spend multiple days indoors or limit practices to the range.

“It definitely has limited our ability to go out and play holes for a few weeks,” Bagby said.

While Bagby said the indoor practices allowed the team to accomplish a decent amount of work, he wants to get the squad back on the course regularly over the next couple of weeks.

Cassville has spent plenty of time on the driving range, but playing a full round presents a different challenge than hitting repeated shots in a practice setting.

“You can sit on the range and get in a groove,” Bagby said. “But, when you actually have to take that out onto the golf course and hit a shot and then wait five minutes before you hit another one, that’s a different level, especially on the mental side.”

Bagby wants the Lady Wildcats to become more comfortable with that aspect of the game before district competition.

The conference tournament will be at Carthage, while the district tournament is scheduled for Oct. 8 at Deer Lake in Springfield.

With the progress Cassville has made, Bagby believes the team has an opportunity to put multiple golfers in medal contention at the conference tournament and send several to the district tournament with a chance to qualify for state.

“If they can go out and give it their best shot, I’ll be happy with them,” Bagby said. “You would like to see at this point now where we’re getting improvement. If they can continue to knock a couple strokes off there and have a good day, I think we have an opportunity to get some medalists or multiple medalists at conference and have a few make a run at qualifying for state.”

Though the roster is small, Bagby said the group has developed strong chemistry. The team attempted to recruit younger players during the summer by inviting girls to hit balls and participate in activities without requiring them to immediately commit to joining the team. That effort produced limited results, however, and Bagby said there currently are not many younger girls in Cassville playing golf.

He hopes that changes in the future, giving more players an opportunity to gain experience before reaching high school.

For the current group, however, Bagby said the small roster has not hurt the program.

“They’ve been very fun to work with,” he said. “I say they get along very well, and the van rides have been very loud.”