Poyen seeks return trip to state tourney

The Poyen Lady Indians made it to the 2A state semifinals before losing 2-0 to Spring Hill High School in the semifinals. Head coach Blue Kesterson said the downfall for his team was the middle part of his lineup.

“The batting was not where it should be,” Kesterson said. “But those girls have been working hard in the offseason.

“That is one area where we will improve — batting will be a lot better.”

Leading the way for the Lady Indians is junior Kindi Puckett, who batted .295 last year with 14 runs scored, 8 RBIs and 5 home runs, including a game winner in the state tournament.

“She is getting several looks from colleges around the state,” Kesterson said. “I feel like she is one of the better ones in the state at any level.”

Kindi Puckett also pitched in 13 games with a 9-4 record and a 1.08 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 21 walks.

Roo Pumphery played in 15 games and tallied a .372 batting average with 27 RBIs, 6 runs scored and 4 home runs. Lacy Beaver batted .395 with 17 runs scored and 4 RBIs. Sophomore Kyla Puckett batted .263 with 12 RBIs and 2 home runs.

“I expect us to be better defensively than we were last year because we will be a year older, too,” Kesterson said.

The coach said that while the Lady Indians didn’t make a lot of errors on the field, he believes his team will be better because “our arm strength is going to be a lot better, and our maturity is going to be a lot better.”

“I felt like we were solid on the defensive side of the ball last year,” Kesterson said. “I just know we are going to be even better.”

Kesterson said many of his players were still in basketball at the time of this interview, so he has had only a couple of practices so far.

“Some of them played in travel ball this summer, and I went and watched them,” he said, “and a lot of them go to camps.

“Lacy, Roo, Kindi and Kyla are all being recruited by colleges.”

The coach said games to watch for this season include match-ups against Magnet Cove, Murfreesboro and Foreman.