The Van-Far baseball team will want to get quick outs this season.

After having 13 kids a season ago, the Indians anticipate having 10 kids on the roster this season, including sophomore Dalana Gay, who plays softball in the fall. Also included is their two pitchers in sophomore Reece Culwell and junior Nikos Connaway, who head coach Pat Connaway said will be relied on heavily this season.

For Van-Far to improve from the 2-15 record last season, Connaway said returning all-Eastern Missouri Conference centerfielder Nikos Connaway and the team’s No. 1 arm Culwell will be both be used in games, especially contests the Indians have a chance to win. This brings concerns when it comes to the pitch counts laid out by MSHSAA.

“When we start getting two or three games a week, with our pitching, it’s going to be very tough,” Connaway said. “You throw more than 30 pitches, you got to sit out a day. With Nikos and Reece, more than likely, they’re going to throw at least 75. If Reece maxes out at 95, he’s out four days. If Nikos maxes out 105, he’s out four days. It can get really dicey.”

Connaway said he expects junior Gage Gibson, who will be the team’s leadoff hitter and shortstop, to pitch some to alleviate some of this, but the team needs to be able to support its limited staff. Obviously, throwing strikes will help the Indian pitchers and the defense can also be the staff’s best friend.

“We’ll get some strikeouts here and there, but they’re basically going to pitch to contact,” Connaway said. “Our key is we’re going to have to field the ball. Everyone is going to make errors, but we’ve got to minimize them. If we miss a ground ball that should be an out, people don’t realize yeah that’s an out we should have had, but what it is an extra three, four, five, 10, maybe 15 pitches we have to throw that inning to get out of it.”

Knowing this, Connaway said Van-Far has taken whatever opportunity, especially days when the weather is nice, to practice defense and give the players as many fielding repetitions as possible. Gibson and Connaway will provide defense up the middle at shortstop and centerfield, respectively, freshman Gibson Condie will slot in at third base, and Gay is expected to play either first or second base.

Connaway said Gay is the first girl to play for the school’s baseball program since Traci Mendenhall in 2007. He said he wants to get Gay comfortable with the differences between the softball and baseball as she has already adjusted well to the team and expects to be a really good player for the Indians.

“Dalana just likes the game,” Connaway said. “Having success in softball and wanting to keep getting better, I think she looks at it as a challenge. Honestly, she’s one of our better players from what we’ve seen. She has good hand-eye coordination so she’ll be able to lay down bunts and things like that.”

Connaway is curious how she will adjust to the overhand style of baseball pitching and how she becomes accustomed to swinging a 28-31 ounce bat, which is heavier than what is used in softball. Just throwing will also be change considering the different size ball, but Connaway said he expects she will be fine.

With such a young and inexperienced roster, Connaway wants his players to get confidence in what he expects to be a small ball hitting approach to manufacture runs and just for the Indians to enjoy being part of the baseball team.

“We want to work hard, but we want to make this fun,” Connaway said. “We could win two ballgames and be miserable or we could win two ballgames and have a great time. If they show they’re having a good time and having some fun, some of the kids that didn’t play for whatever reason, maybe they’ll come back.”

Van-Far hosts Calvary Lutheran at 5 p.m. Monday to start the season.