Peebles softball senior Darby Mills (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
By the high standards set in the past few seasons, one could look at the 2023 Peebles Lady Indians varsity softball squad and think that the spring was a failure. The Lady Indians finished with a record of 6-17, but that is terribly misleading, mainly because of the brutal early non-conference schedule that Coach Doug McFarland’s team played, which gave them experience but not many wins.
“Disappointing, but somewhat expected,” said Coach McFArland. ” I knew it would be tough to replace the 2022 seniors, but hoped we could work kids in to make things work. We returned five starters from 2022, Lily McFarland, Darby Mills, Baylie Johnston, Caydence Carroll and Abby Smalley. To these five we added Kylie Schumacher returning player, and new to PHS softball Payton Davis, Ashlyn Abbott, Lydia Maddox, Kaelyn Musser, Aleah Purcell, Tiffany Burns, Kiera Scott and Summer Bird.”
“I knew things would probably start a little rough, our early schedule was pretty strong. But, I didn’t foresee us averaging 5 to 9 errors per game. Errors and not hitting the strike zone enough was really damaging to our early season. Offensively, we were Jekyll and Hyde. Some games looked promising and other games were pretty ugly. We struggled to hit with runners in scoring position and a lack of team speed did not help the situation. But, the kids always fought hard and never gave up, even in grim situations. That is one thing I liked about this group.”
“It’s always tough to talk about a season where you struggled, McFarland continued. ” But, we as a coaching staff will get back to work and diligently work to improve this group of young ladies for the upcoming seasons ahead of them. I am looking forward to our 2024 season with high hopes for our ladies.”
In recent seasons, the Lady Indians have been an annual participant in the district tournament but that won’t be the case this spring as the Peebles girls were eliminated from the postseason on May 10 as they ventured to Lucasville Valley to battle another group of Lady Indians in a Division IV sectional title contest. It was a tough afternoon for the visitors as they could only manage a single hit and were blanked 10-o in five innings.
The Valley offense made an early statement, plating five runs in the bottom of the first inning to put Peebles in an immediate hole. A two-run double by fist baseman Karsyn Davis and a two-run single from second baseman Emilie Barr were the big blows as the home team jumped ahead early.
The visiting Lady Indians got their fist base runner in the top of the second when Abigail Smalley led off and reached safely but she was erased later when Darby Mills lined into an inning-ending double play. In the top of the third, Peebles got its only hit of the game, a one-out single by Aleah Purcell, and she got a partner on the basepaths when lead off hitter Kaelyn Musser drew a two-out walk, but Payton Davis popped out to first base to squelch the threat.
The home team added two more runs to their advantage in their half of the third, the first coming when Davis drove a pitch over the fence for a solo homer.
In the top half of the fifth, Purcell drew a two-out base on balls but was left stranded. That brought Valley to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, needing three runs to send everyone home early and they did just that, taking advantage of a pair of Peebles errors, getting a run-scoring double from #9 hitter Madison Montgomery, then winning it when a Ryleigh Weeks ground out scored the game-clinching 10th run.
for the Peebles side, the season came to an end in disappointing fashion and the team will bid farewell to seniors Lily McFarland, Darby Mills and Summer Bird, but will return a number of key positions including All-Conference selection Caydence Carroll, and will add a group of solid junior high girls moving up to the high school squad and will look to get back on the district path in 2024.
“Regarding our seniors. Lily McFarland and Darby Mills have been a blessing to coach over the past four years,” says Coach McFarland. “Their leadership and all-around work ethic will be missed. These two went above and beyond for PHS softball, playing an uncomfortable position, batting anywhere in the order, sacrificing themselves for the betterment of the team and of course doing what seemed to be all the work for team fundraising. Their commitment to themselves, the team and PHS is something I will never forget. I wish them the best of luck in their future adventures. I also have to mention our other senior, Summer Bird. Summer decided she would try softball her final year of high school. She was a hard worker and was willing to learn, and was a positive teammate and friend to all the girls. I also wish her all the best.”
Peebles
000 00- 0
L. Valley
502 03 —10
Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Musser 1-0-0-0, Davis 2-0-0-0, Carroll 2-0-0-0, Smalley 2-0-0-0, McFarland 2-0-0-0, Mills 2-0-0-0, Johnston 2-0-0-0, Purcell 1-0-1-0, Schumacher 2-0-0-0, Team 16-0-1-0.
Valley Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Weeks 4-1-1-1, Johnson 3-1-2-0, A. Carpenter 3-0-0-0, Davis 3-2-2-3, Holbrook 3-3-2-0, Conaway 2-0-0-0, Barr 3-2-1-2, C. Carpenter 3-1-3-2, Montgomery 3-0-1-1, Team 27-10-12-9,
Extra-Base Hits: Montgomery 2B, C. Carpenter 2B, Davis 2B, HR
Peebles Pitching:
DAvis (L) 4.2 IP, 12 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 4 K
Valley Pitching:
Johnson (W) 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K
