It will definitely be tough to replace those 6 seniors. They all contributed in various ways and will be missed this coming season I think.
East's JV had some talented OFs in the few games I saw them play and there are rumors of a transfer from Arkansas that played OF for his HS.
JJ Stephens played multiple games at 3B whenever Westphal pitched, so I would imagine he'd be the next man in there.
Dakota Blatchford caught Lapke everytime Lapke closed a game, I would imagine he'd be the next in. Very short, but very thick kid, did a nice job catching Trey and made a big play in the Clinton game in Des Moines on that throw from Dom to get the runner trying to score.
4 of the 6 seniors had innings on the mound, but Stephens and Lapierre could easily eat up more innings to make up for most of the ones lost due to graduation.
Having an actual "closer" is rare for HS. I don't know if they will try and find someone to replace Lapke or come up with a different "end-game" strategy until another closer emerges.
Should still have a decent season next year. They'll have to win more games in a 1-0, 4-2 type fashion instead of just the "score more" philosophy, but they've been able to pull it all together again after graduating large classes before. Hope they can do so again.
This post was edited on 12/13 12:55 PM by EHS1505