It might be the furthest away high school sports season at this point in the calendar, but area softball teams, like St. Albans, are making the best of the three-week summer training period. For my Daily Mail article on SA's summer update, click here.
For the Red Dragons, the program will look to replace the production and leadership lost by graduated pitcher Ali Haynes and catcher Mariah Caudill. The duo represent the winningest battery in Kanawha County history.
Not all is lost, though, with seven returning starters.
Instead of scheduling games for the summer practice time, SA coach Greg Garber said he's focusing on teaching his newest players.
“We choose to use our three weeks each year according to our needs,” he said. “Some years we play a lot of games. This year, we’re just trying to incorporate the new ones coming in to how we do things. We’re also using it to look at different positions for next year.”
With Haynes gone, senior Madi Marshall and sophomore Katie Holstein figure to be the top two Red Dragons arms.
“Madi will be the first one we look at, and I expect her to throw quite a bit," Garber said. "Katie Holstein has made a lot of progress. We played a couple JV games against a couple good teams like Cabell Midland and she did real well in those games.”
Senior Whitney Jones, who started last season in the outfield, could also figure into the pitching equation, Garber said.
Returning senior third baseman Alyssa Bonham will get the first look at Caudill's vacated catching spot. Last season, Bonham took reps in practice and caught some junior varsity games, Garber said.
At first, senior Haili McCown returns. Sophomore second baseman Madi Chandler is expected to move to shortstop, with Marshall in the circle.
In the outfield, junior Amber Kemplin returns after starting last season in right field.
Some pieces have departed, others are expected to change positions, though the Red Dragons figure to be contenders as always.
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