Natalie Monge makes most of break2 min read

Jordan Reece/Larson Newspapers
Incoming junior Natalie Monge fires her fastball in softball practice at Sedona Red Rock High School. Monge is expected to be the top Scorpions pitcher next spring after finishing 10th in Division IV on offense in two statistical categories and receiving first team all-Section I honors.

Natalie Monge doesn’t have time to worry about her future.


The Sedona Red Rock High School incoming junior was almost too busy to find out that she was named first team all-section in softball for the second straight spring.

“My dad told me,” said Monge, the lone Scorpion on the Division IV, Section I first team after sharing the honor with three of her teammates last spring. “I’m [on] my traveling team until December, so I can get even better.”

Less than a week after sophomore final exams, Monge began practice in Camp Verde as the only local player on Juggernaut, one of two traveling club softball teams based in the Verde Valley.

“She’s an athlete,” said Mike Keider, her SRRHS head coach. “I can’t wait to see what she does next year after another summer of club ball.”

Keider looks to guide her in February 2017 in her new role as staff ace pitcher despite a dearth of complete games this spring.

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“She will be the main pitcher,” Keider said. “When school starts, we’ll do a lot of conditioning geared toward pitching.”

But Monge was even deadlier at the plate for the Scorpions, cracking the divisional top 10 in both batting average and on-base percentage.

“My goal is to at least last a whole game [pitching],” Monge said. “My other goal is to hit at least .700.”

Her .625 batting average and .687 on-base percentage led the section in both categories.

“I want to hit directional,” said Monge, a right-hander who is also working on becoming a switch-hitter. “If they tell you to hit a certain spot in the field, you hit that spot.”

Most of the Scorpions pitching load was assumed this past spring by Keider’s daughter, Emma, who struck out 65 batters and also finished in the top five of the section in earned-run average.

As the Scorpions struggled to an eighth-place, 6-12 finish, Monge was called on to also play center field, second base and even catcher for a couple of games when freshman Desiray Davis — third in the section with a .961 fielding percentage — was out.

“I was everywhere,” she said. “I don’t want to let my team down.”

For more stats on Natalie Monge and other Sedona Red Rock High School all-section softball players, please see the Friday, May 27, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.

George Werner

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