By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Success on the softball diamond has been the mantra for Coach Doug McFarland and his Peebles Lady Indians softball squad in recent seasons and the Peebles head coach is shooting for more of the same in 2023.
The Lady Indians finished just 10-9 last spring, won another Division IV sectional title, then fell in the district semi-finals to an old nemesis, Portsmouth Notre Dame. After the 2022 campaign, the Lady Indians bid farewell to a valuable group of senior starters, Emmi Nichols, Avery Storer, Lanie Johnston and the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Marisa Moore. “Those seniors were all starters at key positions and will be tough to replace,” said Coach McFarland.
Even with the losses, the Lady Indians will bring back a solid mix of experience and some new faces, looking to make noise again in the SHAC and beyond.
“These girls are a hard-working group,” says McFarland. “They have good attitudes and seem to be willing to work with each other to help make our team better.”
With the changes and new faces, McFarland knows that there are challenges lying ahead this spring.
“We will have to quickly adjust to position changes for some of our returning players and we are facing a very challenging schedule, probably the toughest we have faced since I have been coach here.”
Besides the normal conference grind, the Lady Indians will play at Adena, face Symmes Valley, Miami Trace, Heath, Pickerington Central and Centerburg in the Valley of Thunder Showcase, and host Paint Valley later in the season.
The Peebles squad will return starters who will play important leadership roles as well as how they perform on the field. Seniors Darby Mills and Lily McFarland will play huge roles on this year’s team as returning starters, as will sophomore Abigail Smalley and juniors Caydence Carroll, Baylie Johnston and Kylie Schumacher. Coach McFarland has been blessed in recent season with some of the best pitching talent in southeast Ohio, but this year he will be breaking in a pair of new faces in the center circle, which may mean some early season growing pains. Freshman lefty Kaelyn Musser along with junior Payton Davis, who moved in from Washington state, will be the pitching tandem for the 2023 Lady Indians.
“Our teams goals, as always, are to win a conference championship and then a state title,” said Coach McFarland. “My expectations for this team include us getting better every practice in all aspects of the game, turning in quality game performances and just helping my girls become better individuals/teammates. We need to change anxiety on the field into confidence and we will be a work in progress, hoping to be ready for tournament time.”
The Lady Indians opened their season on Saturday, March 25, traveling to Rock Hill for a doubleheader of action. In Game one, they lost to Hillsboro 12-2, then fell 9-2 to Coal Grove in the second game. Peebles opened conference play on Tuesday, March 28, hosting Eastern Brown, travel to Ripley on March 30 and Fairfield on Friday to conclude a busy season-opening week.
The 2023 Peebles softball roster includes:
Seniors- Darby Mills, Lily McFarland, Summer Bird
Juniors- Caydence Carroll, Kylie Schumacher, Baylie Johnston, Lexy Ashworth, Payton Davis
Sophomores- Isabella Crum, Lydia Maddox, Abigail Smalley, Ashlyn Abbott
Freshmen- Kiera Scott, Kaelyn Musser, Tiffany Burns, Aleah Purcell