By Chris Parker
Conway softball finished 9-9 last year. The Lady Bears will look to climb back above .500 this year with sophomore pitcher Trista Simpson returning.
“She is our leader on the field,” Conway head coach Ben Phillips said. “She is a sophomore pitcher. As is pretty typical with most pitchers, the team feeds off of her energy. When she is pitching well, making plays, and having fun the whole team plays with energy.”
Simpson was 8-8 last year with 85 strikeouts over 95 innings with a 5.67 ERA. At the plate, she hit .345 with 10 runs scored and 10 RBI.
Junior infielder Carlie Stark is another team leader according to Phillips.
“She has been the off field leader for us getting girls into the gym for workouts and getting them to the batting cage,” Phillips said.
Stark was on base 51.7% of the time last year with 11 runs scored and 13 RBI.
Emily Twyman (junior) and Stark are both options at the catcher position.
“We have a big benefit that we have a couple of catchers we can use. Our main catcher and is Emily Twyman. She has worked a lot at the position, is a smart player, and got a bunch of innings behind the plate last year,” Phillips said. “Catcher is also a spot where Carlie Stark could play. She will get some spot starts this year so we don’t wear out Emily. She has a good arm and is very coachable.”
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Twyman had a .475 on-base percentage last year with 14 runs scored.
All-district senior Gibby Beckler returns to hold down first base.
“Gibby Beckler is an excellent first base,” Phillips said. “She is tall, strong and is an all-state volleyball player so she is not afraid of the ball and doesn’t let it get by her.”
Beckler was the team’s top hitter last year with a .571 batting average and .611 on-base percentage. She drove in 15 runs and scored 12 more.
While Stark will play third most games, the middle infield could feature any of Katie Myers (junior), Gracie McGwire (freshman) and Danielle Cantrell (senior). Myers hit .314 in somewhat limited action last year. Cantrell hit .433 with a .541 batting average.
Junior Mackenna Schifflett is the anchor of the outfield. She hit .381 with a .449 on-base percentage as a sophomore with 16 runs scored and 10 RBI.
“This team completely missed a year from the pandemic and that was their first year with me. We had a lot of growing pains, but the one take away from last year is we are tough resilient team that is eager to build a winning tradition,” Phillips said. “This is only their second year to play for me since we lost the 2020 spring to COVID, so last year we had to learn a completely new way of practicing and playing the game. This year we don’t have to go through all of that so we can find our positions early and work on our game.”
Conway opens the season Mar. 18-19 with the Summit Conference Tournament.
“We were very close to a winning season last year finishing 9-9 and we beat every team in the conference but one,” Phillips said. “That’s what these girls want this year get that distinction of a winning season and the recognition of beating everyone in the conference.”
