By Shelley Ebbrecht
The Skyline Lady Tigers softball team narrowly missed out on a district title last season after losing in the championship round to Stockton and ending their season 15-8. With that thought on their minds, the Lady Tigers will attempt to rebuild their team to return to the title match with hopefully different results.
“We will be doing some rebuilding this season,” said third-year head coach Jeremy Owen. “I am confident we will have quality players to fill roles and steer us to a successful season.”
Leading the team will be senior infielder McKinsey Mountain. As a junior, Mountain hit .433 with 27 RBIs and 34 runs. She tied for most home runs with three. She earned first team all-conference and second team all-region honors.
She is joined by fellow senior Codie Story, who will be returning to the outfield. Story hit .463 with 37 hits, 31 runs and her speed led to 24 stolen bases. As a utility player last season, she was named second team all-conference.
Two juniors return to the varsity squad for the Tigers, Jenna Carter in the infield and Savannah Owen to the pitching circle. Owen finished with an 11-7 record and 3.22 ERA last season, earning second team all-conference.
While beginning the year with half the number of returning starters than the previous season, Coach Owen said he is undaunted at the task of filling the remainder of the roster.
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“While we only return four starters, a number of the kids looking to fill those empty spots are juniors who have been with the program going on their third year and a decent amount of sophomores going into their second season with the program,” he said.
Ashton Owen, junior, is expected to bring a good amount of speed defensively and a quick first step on the bases according to Coach Owen. He said Carissa Fields is another junior with a strong bat and solid defense while Grace Turnbow and Bailey Damitz round out the junior class.
Dora Foust is a sophomore pitcher who went 3-1 last year and is expected to contribute more this season. Hannah Benedict will be relied upon for her strong bat and solid defense along with the rest of the sophomore class—Samantha Johnson, Kenzie Hash and Collette Clemmons.
The incoming freshmen are Kenzie Carver, Brooklyn Whitney, Allivia Gollihare and Emily Lynn. They will be looking to fill the shoes of six graduated seniors from last year’s winning squad.
Payton Damitz was a four-year starter at the catcher position who Owen described as a great leader.
“Our starting pitcher was a sophomore last year and Payton did a great job of keeping her level-headed during stressful situations,” he said.
Amelia Cox led the infield from third base and had the highest batting average at .483 while tying for most homeruns with three. Owen said outfielders Taylor Carver and Morgan Baldwin along with first basemen Cheyenne Story and designated hitter Courtney Patton will be hard to replace.
Skyline will play in the Shelby Estep Memorial Scholarship Tournament at Marionville March 18 before opening their regular season at home against Windsor March 20.
