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| Baseball, softball teams set to begin 2018 season |
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3/16/2018
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
It’s time.
Spring is ready to break out any day now so let’s hit the baseball and softball fields and get the season under way.
The baseball team has a new coach in Chris Varney who comes from a highly successful career at Powell County while Robert McCoy is back for his third season as the coach of the softball team.
The baseball team was 10-17 a year ago when they lost to Clark County, 13-8, in the opening game of district play. Clark County went on to win the 10th Region championship.
The Indians have already had a serious blow with the loss of senior Paul Wise to a high-school career ending knee injury.
Wise was the top returning hitter for the Indians and also served as the shortstop and was one of the top hurlers.
“There’s no question we’re going to miss Paul in a major way,” Varney said. “The first couple of days of practice after we knew he wouldn’t be with us the players were pretty down. I think they finally realized that all they can do is step up and try to fill that void and that no single player is going to do that.”
The Indians do have a pair of outstanding sophomore hurlers in lefty Tyler Jacobs and right-hander Seth Adams.
Adams had played at Montgomery County, spent last season at Bath County, and is now back with the Indians.
Beyond that strong 1-2 the Tribe has junior Luke Fuller who has a lot of experience on the mound and freshman Brandon Dyer shows a lot of promise.
The Indians also have some other players that will show up on the mound who have at least some experience.
“With Paul out and Jonathan Kosier deciding not to play, we suffered a pretty good hit on the mound, there’s no question about that,” Varney said. “But that gives these young guys a chance to step up and I’m confident they’re going to do a good job for us. You just never seem to have enough arms and losing a couple of guys like that hurts.”
When anyone other than Jacobs is on the mound, Varney won’t have to give a lot of thought to his outfield lineup with Jacobs joining twins Ty and Jay Eads in those positions.
“From everything I’ve seen so far, that’s a pretty potent outfield, both fielding and hitting,” Varney said. “Those guys give you a solid start toward filling out a lineup card.
Junior Braxton Hunley and sophomore Jakob Sponcil are the guys who’ll operate behind the plate and they have some big shoes to fill with the departure of Devon Martin through graduation.
Seniors Travis Toy and Andrew Holland are competing for the job at first base with senior Aaron Toy landing at second. Adams, when he’s not on the mound, could see some action there.
Senior Lake Robertson has landed at shortstop with junior Luke Fuller at third and Adams may also be filling in at both of those positions from time to time depending on the pitching situation. Robertson will likely find himself pitching some in relief.
“We’ve got some freshmen and sophomores that are playing well and I’m really optimistic about our eighth grade and seventh grade groups coming up,” Varney added.
With just four seniors and larger groups of seventh and eighth graders on the way, Varney said the Tribe’s numbers will probably go up a little in the next couple of years.
“I feel like for the varsity and junior varsity teams that to have about 30 players on the roster is a good number,” he said.
coach likes pitching
The Montgomery County softball team is coming off a 10-21 season where injuries were a real problem.
Six major injuries in 2017 left the Tribe settling for district runner-up honors and they bowed out in the first round of the regional tournament.
One of those was to be eighth grade hurler Caroline Donithan.
Back now as a freshman, Donithan is now a part of a pitching staff, which is not always the norm in softball.
Senior Cameron Reddix is the mainstay of the staff, the player with the most experience. She can also play the outfield and is solid at the plate.
Sophomore Taylor Alfrey got a lot of experience last year after the injury to Donithan and then there’s junior Haley Wills who will probably be getting a lot of opportunities with the junior varsity on the mound while playing on the infield with the varsity.
“It’s a big advantage when you can put a pitcher in the circle and then bring in another quality pitcher that maybe has a little different velocity and maybe additional or other pitches,” McCoy said.
Sophomore Kristen Stephens is behind the plate and after getting a lot of playing time last year appears ready for the full-time job this year.
Senior Lexie Donithan anchors the infield at first base and is swinging a hot bat this spring.
Wills will likely land at second base on a regular basis with junior Kaitlyn Barber at shortstop.
Another option at shortstop is freshman Taylor Battaile which would move Barber to third.
Battaile could also see action in the outfield with Barber at shortstop and either Caroline Donithan or Taylor Alfrey at third.
“We’re still a little bit of a work in progress,” McCoy said. “But we’ve been able to answer a lot of questions in the pre-season and have narrowed things down.”
Freshman Avery Conn is the likely starter in left field with junior MaKenna White in right.
The centerfield position will likely fall to Caroline Donithan when she’ not on the mound with Battaile filling in there when Donithan pitches.
“Even though we’d like to have more of a set everyday lineup, it’s good to still have girls competing at some of these positions and as the season goes along I feel like we’ll have a lot of depth all over the field,” McCoy added. “Kristen Stephens is a player who could probably play any position we put her in and do a good job for us.”
The squad right now is made up of 20 players so everyone will get a chance between the varsity and junior varsity games to be on the field almost every day.
McCoy is also high on some of his j
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