County softball teams swing for 2018

By Bart Moss / For the FCT

Phil Campbell Bobcats

The Phil Campbell Bobcats are hoping to pick up where they left off last year. Coming off a 24-18 season, coach Doug Jackson said he feels like the Bobcats have the pieces in place to advance deeper into the softball playoffs.

“I am hoping the experience from last year pays off,” said Jackson. “We have everyone back plus two new additions in Kallie Allen and Kaci Harris.”

Phil Campbell returns the entire starting lineup from last year’s team.

“We are very excited to have three teams for the first time in our program’s history,” said Jackson. “We have a junior high, junior varsity and varsity team. Each team is loaded with talented players who have set goals for the season.”

Offensively, the Bobcats want to get runners across the plate by being smart, Jackson added.

“We want to focus on getting hits with runners in scoring position,” said Jackson. “We need to be aggressive by being choosy at the plate and on the base paths.”

Defensively, the Bobcats are also in good shape. We have a very strong and quick group of girls with great gloves and good instincts,” said Jackson. “We have two young pitchers who have been working hard during the off season.”

Tharptown Wildcats

The Tharptown Wildcats went 22-16 last year but couldn’t get out of a stacked area. If they are going to improve upon last year’s performance, they will have to fill the shoes of their two best hitters and defensive players – Klaudia Harris and Kaylee Bain.

Harris batted .398 and anchored the infield, while Bain batted .484 and anchored the outfield.

“We have a good group of girls,” said Tharptown softball coach Tanna Benford, “with a good combination of pitching and hitting. We’ve got to get some things sorted out on defense and move some girls around in order to fill in some spots we lost last year.”

To fill those shoes, Benford will be looking for some younger girls to step up, including returners sophomore Shaylee Wieting (.433 batting average, .566 on base percentage), sophomore pitcher Olivia Ergle (129 strikeouts), eighth-grade pitcher/infielder (.350 batting average), senior third baseman Cara Ergle (.333 batting average) and senior first baseman Ameilah Dawson (.317 batting average).

“We lost two of our top two hitters last year,” said Benford. “We have several starters returning, but we need some more to step up. Defensively, we have been working Shaylee Wieting at catcher as well as Brooke Daily. We’re messing with our defense and moving a lot of people around right now. We are trying to figure out where we can put the best nine that will give us the best opportunity to win.”

Red Bay Tigers

The Red Bay Tigers are in rebuilding mode and will be looking to many young faces to steady the ship as the Tigers try to compete for a county and area title.

Red Bay coach Richard Boyd said he is excited about the challenges that lay ahead.

“We are heavy with eighth- and ninth-grade starters, but we have enough older girls we believe can complement each other’s skillsets to make this a successful group by season’s end,” said Boyd. “This is group of girls who want to work and are willing to put in the extra work to get better.”

Red Bay returns only one senior starter in Victoria Rodriguez and only one junior starter in Layla Blackburn. All other returning starters are eighth- and ninth-graders: Lila Blackburn, Chloe Knoblock, Emma McCollister and Annaliese Rogers.

“I think the key for this team will be to be more consistent up and down the lineup,” said Boyd. “We need to be able to keep flipping the batting lineup. Also, our pitchers need to be stronger mentally.

“Losing the leadership of our seniors will be difficult at the beginning of the season. We will need to find some leadership on this team.”

Offensively, Red Bay will look to Blackburn, who batted over .500 last season. Rogers, Knoblock and McColister all batted over .300.

“Several of the girls have been working hard since January on their hitting,” said Boyd. “As our younger players get older and stronger, we expect big things from our offense as the season progresses.”

Defensively, the Tigers are in decent shape as they return people in some key positions.

“All three of our starting pitchers are back (Rodriguez, Blackburn, and Knoblock),” said Boyd. “All three pitchers bring something different to the circle. They have worked hard and will get stronger as the season moves along.”

“We have tried to increase our strength of schedule to push our team and force ourselves to get better and prepare us for the area tournament, regionals and state,” Boyd added. “As a coach, I look forward to watching this team come together. I think Red Bay softball is on the way up for years to come.”

Vina Red Devils

The Vina Red Devils haven’t been to the softball playoffs since 2002. If they are going to make a run for it this year, they will rely on returning starters, including all-state catcher Abby Hester and all-area infielder Kaitlyn King.

Hester also returns a potent base stealing threat. She has 271 career stolen bases.

“Last year was a rebuilding year in the infield and outfield,” said Vina coach Richie Hester. “We have most of last year’s team back.”

The Red Devils also return starters Brooke Brown, Scooter Johnson, Baylee Hutcheson, Greta Raper, Hannah Johnson and Haley Cantrell.

“I think the key to our success will be replacing our starting pitcher from last year,” coach Hester said. “If our pitchers can step up and do the job, and we can get the offense in gear, we should have a successful season.”

He said he thinks this team could sneak up on some people this year.

“These girls have a lot of heart,” he said. “They might be a surprise team in the area before the year is over.”