Despite losing three starters to graduation, Gallatin’s Lady Bulldog softball team is looking to fill just one outfield spot heading into next Tuesday’s season opener at Polo. Still, the Lady Bulldogs will again field a young team, with little varsity experience at half the positions vacated by last spring’s graduation.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
“As far as experience at the varsity level, we’re still pretty young,” says first-year head coach Courtney Ray, a former GHS softball star and all-conference and all-district player. “Out of my projected starting nine, four of them are brand new to the varsity level, and out of the other five, three of them will be playing new positions,” she added.
A competitive freshman class brings summer travel ball experience to the equation. They are pushing upper classmen for varsity playing time.
The pitcher-catcher battery is set with junior Karley Salmon on the mound and junior Kelsey Maxwell behind the plate. Senior Maelea Coulson returns at first base, along with senior Aubrey Feiden at second.
The left field side of the infield will feature two new starters, freshman Caragan Baker and junior Addison Burns, at shortstop and third base, respectively.
A pair of position switches affects the outfield alignment. Senior Courtney Shubert moves from center to left. Senior Hayley Michael moves from shortstop to center. Right field will be manned by either junior Bethany Bailey or junior Essie Williamson.
Senior Jerilynn Hoover, junior Zoe Bradford and sophomore Madalyn Shubert are expected to vie for playing time at the varsity level.
Additional team members are sophomores Aubrey Burns, Morgan Glidewell and Macie McNeely, and freshmen Carli Beck, Carlie Hogan, Maddi Michael, Hannah Miller and McKinley Waters.
“Just from being around these girls during basketball season and in the classroom, I definitely see that the upperclassmen have made huge strides this past winter and summer in terms of leadership,” Coach Ray says, “and that has carried over onto the practice field the past couple of weeks,” she adds. “The level of focus and competition at practice is phenomenal and it’s making things exciting for us.
Last Friday’s jamboree in Milan gave Coach Ray and her assistant, Crystal Pash, a better idea about where the team stands heading into the season opener. In three-inning mini games, Gallatin beat Princeton, tied Milan and lost to Scotland County.
“I felt like we were able to get several of the young kids a bit of a look in a varsity type setting,” Coach Ray remarked. “We really wanted to view each of these three innings like it was the fifth, sixth and seventh inning of a game, not the first, second and third,” she added. “Getting to see how the girls reacted under pressure in a live situation really helped me in my continued evaluation of the girls.”
Gallatin opens the season next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Polo. The Lady Bulldogs open their home schedule Thursday, Aug. 24, against Putnam County.