Sweet Home’s softball team hits the diamond this week with a roster loaded with experience.
“We have almost our whole team coming back,” said Head Coach Emily Marchbanks. “We only had two seniors last year that left and the two that filled those spots both swung last year. We’ve retained most of our team, which is nice.”
Even with a young roster last season, the Huskies (11-16) made the playoffs as the Oregon West Conference’s third-place team, but lost at eventual finalist Henley 12-0 in the first round.
The goal, as usual, Marchbanks said, is to get back to the state playoffs, and she has a team full of players who know what it takes to get there.
Back to play varsity are seniors Jocelyn Fairchild and Kenadie King, juniors Katriona “Peanut” Harris, Anabelle Morris, Miley Smith, Natalie Smith, Addy Vannice and Trinity Victor, and sophomores Aaliyah Brown, Kaitlyn Kennedy and Hannah Sieminski.
Harris, who pitched as a sophomore, is expected to spend most of her time in the circle, Marchbanks said.
“Peanut will do the majority of the pitching again this year,” said the coach, who pitched in both high school and college herself.
“She grew a lot last year, and she did get a lot better throughout the year. And so it’ll be nice starting there, and then we’ll go from there.
“And then, a lot of times, Jocelyn will come in and close. Her speed and Peanut’s speed are different enough that it’s pretty complimentary.”
Fairchild has also been a leading hitter for Sweet Home, the coach said.
“We’re really excited to have her, especially because she does a good job when we have runners on and we need to score. She’s good at putting the ball into play.”
Players on the junior varsity roster are junior Anonymous Mayfield, sophomores Kalissa Ellis and Madison Looney, and freshmen Raelyn Andrews, Delaney Brouillette, Ziarra Duncan, Oakley Freitag, Ava Padua, Emma Rosa, Taylee Rosa and Kaylee Silacci.
Marchbanks said Cascade and Stayton are perennial powers in the Oregon West Conference, and she sees them as likely the biggest challenges this year. Newport
“A lot of (their players) travel and they have younger players coming up through their programs, which we do too, but we’re working on building it.”
The Huskies have historically been able to beat Newport, “which is a bit closer to where we are,” she said. “The last few years we have not done that as well.”
Sweet Home was scheduled to open at home Tuesday, March 18, against Madras, then play Wednesday at Marist before moving on to the Hidden Valley Tournament March 27-28.