Graduation robbed Choctaw County fast-pitch softball of a lot of talent from the Lady Chargers’ Region 3-3A championship team, including the top five batters. But first year head coach Lauren Fancher does not want to hear the word “rebuilding.”
“We need to have a winning mindset,” she said. “We don’t need the mindset that we graduated six great, key players so we will be down for a year or two. We need the mindset that we have created a new team, a better team.”
Fancher was promoted to head coach after three years as an assistant, the first two under Mike Brown and last year under Lance Thomas.
It will be a young team, with only six players in grades 9-12. That means Fancher will be counting on some young talent, including four eighth graders.
Molly Thomas pitched sparingly, but well, as a seventh grader, going 2-0 with a 2.33 earned run average. She will be counted on to replace her big sister Lizzie as the team’s leading pitcher.
Sophomore Akira Taylor will join Thomas in the circle after recovering from surgery. Fancher said that will not be until at least mid-March.
Other eighth graders who will see considerable action are Makenzie Sanders at shortstop, Maylee Hollis in centerfield and Hailey Miller at third base.
Caden Miles, a junior, moves from outfield to catcher. “We need somebody behind the plate who has game smarts and she has it,” Fancher said. “She knows where everybody is supposed to play.”
Junior Sierra Jones, a designated hitter last year, will man first base this season. Sophomore Raquela Graham will be a utility player. “She’ll go wherever I tell her to go,” Fancher said.
Two girls new to the team, sophomore Mya Parish and junior Alaysia Weeks, will be in the outfield. “It will be their first year playing for us and we’re excited to have them.”
With the loss of so many good hitters, the Lady Chargers will be playing a different brand of softball this year. “We’re not a team that relies on hard hit balls that bounce off the fence, but one that relies on base hits and small ball,” Fancher said. “What I told them is that we are going to have to be scrappy.”
Choctaw County will play in a tournament Saturday at Kosciusko. Oher teams in the tournament will be Kosciusko, Cleveland and South Pontotoc. The Lady Chargers have a home game Feb. 26 against Kosciusko, which is both defending 4A state champion and the school where Fancher played softball.
