By Chris Parker
Mansfield has played both spring and fall schedules for years, but 2022 is the first where the Lady Lions will be competing for a spring championship after moving fully from the fall season.
“This is the first year for us to be a ‘spring only’ team,” Mansfield head coach Aaron Gray said. “Our primary season has always been in the fall. However, we have always played the spring season as well. We made the decision to bring back volleyball. Since we are a smaller school, it would have been hard to have both at the same time.”
The transition to the spring will be led by a quartet of seniors in Maddie Coble (senior left field), Madalyn Ivy (senior pitcher/infield), Tyra Lansdown (senior right field) and Morgan McGuire (senior catcher).
“Our team leaders this year will be our seniors,” Gray said. “I have a core group of four seniors that we will rely upon. They have been a part of the program for four years, they have played at the varsity level for four years and are players our younger girls look up to.”
Coble hit .282 with a .417 on-base percentage. Ivy hit .351 with a .564 on-base percentage last season. She had 10 RBI and 17 runs scored. Lansdown contributed a .311 batting average and .404 on-base percentage. McGuire posted a .381 batting average with a .481 on-base percentage.
Ivy along with Chloe Lemons (junior) and Kyra Thompson (sophomore) will be Mansfield’s pitching staff.
Gray on Ivy: “Madalyn Ivy is a senior who has thrown for us for three years. She split pitching duties with Megan Langley who we lost to graduation. This will be Madalyn’s first year at being our workhorse. I look for her to throw a lot of innings for us. Madalyn throws a variety of pitches and has thrown in big games for us. She will bring a good deal of experience to the circle.”
CLICK HERE FOR LINKS TO ALL OF THE SPRING SPORTS PREVIEWS
Ivy pitched 41.2 innings last season with 45 strikeouts and a 3.36 ERA.
Gray on Lemons: “Chloe Lemons is a junior that has primarily thrown at the junior varsity level over the past two years. She provides a different look for us. Chloe doesn’t generally throw anything straight. She has a lot of movement.”
Gray on Thompson: “Kyra Thompson is a sophomore that also threw a good deal of junior varsity innings for us last year. She has decent velocity and a couple of off speed pitches that can keep people off balance.”
McGuire will handle the catching duties.
Lauren Jones (junior), Logan Jones (junior), Thompson, Lemons, Dana Nelson (junior) and Madison Hanger (sophomore) will all see time on the infield. Coble, Lansdown, Lemons and Macie Tate (junior) will be the outfielders.
“We have experience. We graduated two from our fall team from last year. Megan Langley pitched and played second base and Ashlynn Heil played third base. However, Langley was the only senior that played in our abbreviated spring season. We have experience, depth, and hopefully enough pitching to carry us,” Gray said. “We will need to gel as a new group. We lost a team leader last year and we need to find our identity without her. We’re going to need to have some girls step up and maintain (if not) exceed the production we lost a year ago.”
Mansfield softball opens the season Mar. 18-19 in the Summit Conference Tournament.
“It’s a “whole new ballgame” so to speak,” Gray said. “We are accustomed to a fall season with a post season and a spring season that I have looked at as sort of a “spring training” to propel us into the summer and fall. We’ll have many of the same opponents that we have had in the past. We will have to get used to preparing for a spring district tournament.”
