By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Don’t let records deceive you. Coach Doug McFarland and his Peebles Lady Indians softball squad finished last spring at an even 13-13, even finishing their regular season with a seven-game losing streak. But…when tournament time rolled around the Peebles girls kicked it into high gear and made their second consecutive exciting run. In 2019, The Lady Indians were Division IV regional champions and played in the state’s Final Four and last season they captured a Division IV district championship and went to the Elite Eight before falling to Newark Catholic.
So, the defending two-time defending district champions are back in 2022 with a news set of challenges and a desire from the coaching staff on down to repeat the successes of the past two full seasons. That will be a little tougher just by the fact that the Coach McFarland and his staff have little room for error with only 11 girls on the roster to begin the spring.
“We had some girls that just decided they didn’t want to play for whatever reason,” said McFarland. “It’s just where we’re at but we’ve been working at finding some more players, but it just seems hard to get kids out and interested any more. A lot of kids think they should just step right in and it doesn’t always work that way. We’re happy with what we have and we’ll work hard with them.”
The 2022 Peebles roster boasts four seniors- pitcher Lanie Johnston, shortstop Marisa Moore, outfielders Avery Storer and second baseman Emmi Nichols.
As any avid softball fan can tell you, an exceptional arm in the center circle can make a world of difference and the Lady Indians have that in the battle-tested senior Johnston. “Lanie put in a good winter of work, then missed some time being sick, but came back and has been throwing the ball well,” says Coach McFarland. “She’s trying to improve the pitches she had while trying to add some new pitches to her repertoire.”
This reporter believes that the preseason choice for Conference Player of the Year resides at shortstop for the Lady Indians in the multi-sport talented Marisa Moore. Moore is dynamic at the plate and in the field, with one of the best shortstop arms fans will see all season.
“After watching her so far this spring, I don’t see anything changing with Marisa,” said the Peebles head coach. “She puts a lot of time in and gives us a major weapon. Offensively, we hit her leadoff last year and if we got her on case, she could get to second or third and produce a run for us with her speed.”
According to Coach McFarland, Storer will handle centerfield duties for the Tribe and provide a big bat in the middle of the lineup. “Avery is a really strong girl with a really strong arm and maybe our biggest power hitter” says McFarland.
“Emmi (Nichols) will be playing second base for us and she’ll do fine there, she knows what to do. She really came on big late last season, especially with the bat. Our seniors are a good quality group of hard workers ready to get going.”
Behind the plate will be junior Lily McFarland, who got quick on-the-job training last spring when regular catcher Kyndell Lloyd went down with an injury. “It had been awhile since Lily had caught, but she had done it before,” said McFarland. “She was able to catch five regular season games before tournament and I can’t complain about how she did in tournament play. A lot of teams saw her throwing to second in warm ups and it deterred them from running and that helped us a lot.”
“Junior Darby Mills will be in left field and likely our new leadoff hitter and she will be expected to assess the pitcher and work a lot of pitches which she did last year. Her and Lily have really put in a lot of work.”
Sophomore Baylie Johnston will be back for her second season as the team’s third baseman.
“Baylie does a good job at third and we’ve really been working on making her move on defense, but I have faith that she will have another good season,” says Coach McFarland.
Replacing the graduated Lloyd at first base will be sophomore Caydence Carroll, coming off a good year in 2021 and according to the head coach, “We will look to Caydence to drive in a lot of runs for us.”
Rounding out the starting lineup for the moment will be another sophomore, Kylie Schumacher in right field. “Kylie has put in the time for us and we’ll give her the opportunity out there,” says McFarland. “There may be some growing pains but we know she will just keep getting better.”
With nine out on the field, that leaves just two in reserve for the Lady Indians, both freshmen, Abigail Smalley and Bella Crum, both of whom could play vital roles in specific game situations as the season progresses.
As afar the conference play is concerned, the Lady Indians are in the small school division of the SHAC.
“I think Fayetteville will be good again and Manchester will be very competitive as will Whiteoak,” says McFarland. “I think the conference will be more competitive than people think. I think Fairfield will be the class of the big school division and we’re scheduled to play them the first week of the season.”
The Lady Indians have never been ones to shy away from playing tough competition in the regular season and they will jump right into the fire with their opening action, traveling to Rock Hill on Saturday, March 26 to face Coal Grove in game one and then Portsmouth Notre Dame in game two, a team that will be looking for revenge after two consecutive tourney defeats at the hands of the Lady Indians. On Monday, March 28 the Peebles girls will stay in non-conference play as they host Huntington and then SHAC competition begins on Tuesday when they host Ripley, all part of seven games slated for the season’s first week if Mother Nature cooperates.
“We’d really like to win the league outright this year,” says McFarland, who is beginning his 10th season as the Peebles head softball coach. “We’ve never won it outright, shared it, but it would be nice to bring home a trophy with just ‘Peebles’ on it. We’d like to get back to where we were last year, put the time in and give ourselves an opportunity to be there again.”
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