Jackets prepare for season’s first scrimmage
The Calhoun High School softball team is off to a excellent start.
And what a start it has been, according to longtime head coach Diane Smith, who is beginning her 36th year at the helm.
They haven’t played any games yet and their first scrimmage is set for Thursday when they go against Coahulla Creek but Smith is very pleased with what she has seen from her team early on.
“Things are going great,” Smith said. “The girls have a great attitude. They’re working hard. I think they are ready to go. I think they are ready to win.”
She said she is anxious to see how her girls fare against another opponent and she believes her girls are ready to see how they do when facing someone else.
“I’m anxious to see how they work together,” Smith said of the upcoming glorified practice. “I want to see how we communicate with each other. It’s very important that we talk to each other on the floor and work together. Really, I’ll just be looking at the total picture. Is everyone covering their assignments? Is everyone lined up and as the ball is put in play, are they getting to get to where they are supposed to be? So there are a lot of different things we’ll be looking at. But I think we’re really ready to see how we look against someone else besides ourselves.”
Like all outstanding softball teams, their success may come down to who is in the pitching circle. And Smith says they have some depth in that area.
“Every softball coach I know relies on their pitching and we’re no different,” Smith said. “We’ve got four pitchers that we’re looking at and I think they all have a chance to see a lot of action. They all have different pitches. They all have different speeds. I think they give us the opportunity to show the teams we play a different look because they are all different types of pitcher.”
Senior Sydney Terry, who is battling through some arm issues, along with junior Alexis Speer and sophomores Avery Greeson and Athens Hudson are those hurlers and Smith said they have all thrown well the first couple of weeks of workouts.
The Yellow Jackets will be senior and sophomore-heavy with nine upperclass(wo) men and six tenth graders on the 19-person roster. But she is looking for the best nine to put on the field every game, regardless of what grade the player is in.
“Right now, we’ve got a lot of good internal competition going on,” Smith said. “We’ve got a lot of younger players pushing our older players for playing time and I think that’s a good thing. This is all about competing and when players have to really compete in practice, I feel like it does prepare them for the games.”
Besides Terry, the other seniors on the roster are shortstop Espee Reyes, second baseman Emma Rogers, first baseman Molly Banks, designated hitter Malysha Winston, catcher Paris Kirby, center fielder Kayleigh Warren, left fielder Macey Brown, and right fielder Morgan Utt.
For the first time in a long time, Smith doesn’t have enough players for a junior varsity squad, so her younger players will get on-the-job-training at the varsity level.
“We’ve got some very talented younger players and we are excited to see how they will do against older competition,” the highlysuccessful varsity coach said. “I think they’re going to do very well because they are good players and
I’m excited about their futures.”
Besides Speer, Aryian Berner is the other junior on the ball club. Besides Greeson and Hudson, Layla Baker, Sydney Bullard, Elizabeth Wilkey and Paige Dempsey are the sophomores filling out the roster and Lyla West and Katherine Atha are the two freshmen playing varsity.
“There’s some inexperience there, but there’s some talented and very competitive girls too, so we’re excited about the season and getting started,” Smith said.
After the scrimmage Thursday, the team will open its 2021 season 5 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 10 on the road at Sonoraville. The Lady Jackets will start defending their Region championship one week later on Tuesday, Aug. 17 at home with a 5 p.m. first pitch against Cartersville.