First-year Eupora fast-pitch softball coach Amir Hunt has his fair share of problems heading into the season.
To start with, the Lady Eagles have been forced to the batting cages as rain has soaked their fields the last two weeks, limiting their amount of defensive work.
His other problem is a little bit better as Hunt says he has 13 or 14 players who can contribute with only nine positions on the field.
“I think we have a good problem,” Hunt said. “We have plenty of girls who can play softball. We only graduated two so we have got a lot of girls who can play softball. They have worked hard and have played a lot of softball. We have got a lot of girls competing for positions on the field. It’s a good problem to have.”
The Lady Eagles have seven starters returning and four seniors on the squad.
Senior Delta Claire Newman will start on the mound while senior Savannah Kilpatrick will start at catcher. Sophomore Haley Farley will start at shortstop while junior Alley Reed will start in center field with sophomore Haylee McCrory slated to start at second base.
After that, Hunt said the other positions are up for grabs and likely to see a lot of platooning early in the season.
Also competing for playing time is Kylie Richardson, Meleah Pogue, Addison Mason, Riley Brook Crowell, Annslie Steadman, Jameelah Marshall, Christina Boren, Patience Bingham and Marleigh Abbott.
“We’ve got a very talented team,” Hunt said. “I believe that we have 13 or 14 girls who are going to be able to contribute. We’ve just got to find the right nine. I believe or first seven are going to be pretty strong and have several kids we can pick from for the last few spots.”
Hunt said the biggest problem has been with practice time so far.
“We just have’t been able to practice a whole lot,” Hunt said. “We have hit a lot but just haven’t been able to practice enough on defense. They understand what I’m wanting them to do, we just haven’t been on the field enough to be really solid on them. At this point, we just need to rain to let up some we can get some games in.”
Hunt said once they do get to playing, he thinks it will come down to pitching.
“I think we will be OK if our pitching holds up,” Hunt said. “We will be OK if we can throw strikes. Defensively, I think we will be pretty strong. I have an idea of what our defense is going to be like from slow-pitch. On offense, I think we will be able to move some people around and hit the ball.”
The Lady Eagles will compete with East Webster, Bruce, Winona, Calhoun City and Leflore County in division play with the top three teams making the playoffs.
