Although Louisville went 2-16 last year, head softball coach Ron Swart believes this year's squad is better than even they believe. Getting his players to believe that, however, Swart said, lies within the keys to their success.
"For us, our girls have to start believing we're better than we are," Swart said. "We're very athletic and we're very well-rounded. We have outfielders, we have infielders. We've hit the ball well; we've done a lot of things good."
Adria Thames headlines this year's Lady Wildcats. The senior is headed to East Mississippi Community College in the fall, but not before she hopes to help Louisville to a successful season in her senior year.
Swart has used Thames just about everywhere on the diamond over the last three seasons, taking full advantage of her versatility.
"She's a senior, and she's one of those who has been moved to every other spot than what she normally plays," Swart said. "We've had her at centerfielder, we've had her in the outfield, we've had her at second. She's normally our second baseman in fast-pitch softball."
Louisville is off to a 1-3 start this season. The Lady Wildcats earned their first win of the year after beating Choctaw County 15-11 on March 1.
With Louisville girls' basketball team playing late in the season and winning the 4A state title, a number of Swart's players were preoccupied with their basketball obligations. He plans to have them back following spring break.
Two such players are Lymyia Fifer and Kameron Rogers. Fifer is Louisville's No. 1 pitcher, while Rogers is the team's starting centerfielder. Pitcher Jimaia Jackson has taken over Louisville's starting pitcher duties in Fifer's absence. Fifer will reestablish her role in the circle once she's fully healed from a basketball injury.
"Lymyia is really important for us as our No. 1 pitcher when we get her back healthy," Swart said. "Kameron Rogers could be one of the best players in the state... She's athletic, she can run, she can throw and she can hit. She can do it all."
Swart said a handful of key contributors are battling injuries, and like his basketball members, he expects them to heal over spring break and return next week.
"If we can get everybody back and playing in their right positions and see what they've got, I will be interested to see how good we could be if we would really get after it," Swart said.
Aside from filling in new players at catcher and in the outfield, Louisville returns all of its starters from last season. With the experience returning, Swart believes his team has the potential to reach the postseason.
"I would love for us to qualify for the playoffs -- that's our No. 1 goal: to make playoffs this year," Swart said. "We're good enough to do it, we just have to buy in and believe that we're good enough to do it."
LAST WEEK
Louisville tangled with Leake Central in two games last week that saw the Lady Wildcats fall to 1-3 on the season.
Despite the losses, Louisville coach Ron Swart saw a lot he liked, as his team came up just short in its comeback bid in an 18-15 loss to the Lady Gators last Tuesday.
"We were down 16-6 and we fought back and got it to 16-13, and then we gave up two (runs) in the top of the seventh and made it 18-13," Louisville softball coach Ron Swart said. "Then we scored two in the bottom of the seventh."
The Lady Wildcats and Lady Gators met again on Friday with Leake Central taking a 14-4 victory. Louisville is still in the process of acclimating its state champion basketball players back to the softball diamond.
"We had a good effort," Swart said of the week. "The biggest thing we have right now that is killing us is that we just got our basketball girls back for our game Friday. Two of them are starters, and one of them couldn't play -- our starting pitcher -- because she had a messed up hand from the basketball game. And our starting centerfielder didn't play."
The Lady Wildcats resume their regular-season schedule on March 19 when they travel to Kosciusko.
