Sage softball learning on the job

A team with just one senior, the Sage Hill School softball team is still learning in the early season.

That senior, however, is quite a building block.

Katie McKeon was a first-team All-Academy League selection a year ago, when she hit .498 as a shortstop. The two-time Daily Pilot Dream Team selection is now a pitcher for the Lightning.

McKeon teams with sophomore catcher Sadie Hoeschen, who led Sage Hill with a .506 average as a freshman, to provide a couple of big bats.

“I have an experienced battery, if nothing else,” said first-year coach Beckie Perez, McKeon’s mother. “We just have a very young team.”

Perez has plenty of experience, as a longtime youth softball coach and umpire in the Tustin area. A 51-year-old walk-on at Sage, she is a professor at Cypress College.

Sage Hill does have several other returners, including junior Morgan Hembarsky and sophomore Lily Bush, both All-Academy League honorable mentions on the team that finished third in the Academy League and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division VI playoffs a year ago. Hembarsky can play both infield and outfield while Bush is primarily an outfielder.

Other returning starters include junior second baseman Lora Carpenter, sophomore outfielder Nikta Lotfian and sophomore first baseman Julia Schaus.

However, Perez may be forced to shuffle those positions. McKeon is more comfortable at shortstop, but is pitching out of necessity. Currently the Lightning have a shortage of arms to replace graduate Lauren Neale, who went 9-12 last year as a senior and was also one of the team’s top batters with a .428 average.

“It’s a little bit different strategy this year,” Perez said. “We’re teaching girls to play more than one position.”

Outfielder Caroline Sir, as well as third baseman-outfielder Chrissy Korper, are freshmen who have come into a starting role.

Even if the team is learning on the job, Perez said they seem to be having fun doing it.

“I think there’s a very good team chemistry,” she said. “The team gets along really well and they support one another. They’ve really kept their composure, and that will help us early on. I’ve seen a great amount of improvement.”

The Lightning (1-8) have already had a tough preseason schedule, playing against Newport-Mesa area teams in higher divisions such as Costa Mesa and Estancia.

In league play, which begins April 8 at Brethren Christian, Sage Hill will attempt to dethrone defending champion Oxford Academy.

“I think we’ll do OK in league,” Perez said. “We should continue to improve and make a good showing in league.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.