J.R. Bird is no stranger to the head coaching position.
With several years of experience in travel softball under his belt, Bird is now stepping onto the high school stage for the first time as the leader of the Beckley squad.
“It’s a little different. There is a lot more paperwork involved,” Bird said. “It is a lot more than just playing the game. As far as coaching, I can coach, but there is a lot of other stuff in high school coaching.”
Although he is stepping into a new situation per se, the new coach is already familiar with a vast majority of the roster through travel ball.
“Probably 75 percent, I would say, have played for me at one time or another,” Bird said.
The Flying Eagles are coming off of a 16-8 season and field a solid senior core this year that has the new coach excited.
“There is a lot of expectations, and that is good. I would rather have high expectations instead of low expectations,” Bird said. “Last year they were a relatively young team with only a couple of seniors. This year we have nine seniors and probably six or seven of them will be starters.”
Along with that senior core, Beckley will have one of the best pitchers in the state in junior Aubrey Smallwood.
In her sophomore year, Smallwood was 12-4 with a 1.39 ERA and recorded 320 strikeouts to send her over 500 for her high school career.
“She is something else. I have had Aubrey since she was eight or nine years old back in travel ball. Her transformation has been amazing,” Bird said. “Not only is she one of the best pitchers, she is one of the best workers. That is not a coincidence. She is the leader on that mound.”
Last year, the junior hurler was a workhorse and by the time the postseason rolled around, it showed at times.
That should not be the case this year with senior Taylor Scott returning to stand in the circle after not playing high school softball last year. The WVU-Tech signee is excited to be back with the Flying Eagles.
“I wanted to play my senior year with all of my friends,” Scott said. “I play soccer with Kyndall Dooley and I love Kyndall, she is great. It will also be the last year that I play with my sister, so that is fun.”
Bird talked about the importance of having Scott back on the team this year.
“We will ride Aubrey and we will ride Taylor. Taylor is also a senior and that will help us. Having a 1-2 punch will be a big difference,” Bird said. “That was a struggle last year with just the one pitcher. Aubrey can’t pitch all the time. Taylor is excellent.”
Beckley had some bright spots at the plate last year, but overall as a team, hitting was the main struggle. That fact has not been lost on the new coach.
“It looks to be improving,” Bird said. “I went through the stats last year and we didn’t hit very well at all as a team. We had one at about .500 and two at .300, but everyone else was below that mark.”
“That is just not good enough, especially in triple-A,” Bird went on to say. “We have to score some runs some times. We did a lot of hitting in the winter workouts. That was our main, No. 1 goal, hitting. That was the main struggle. We have the pitching and the defense is good, but you have to score some runs.”
The biggest plus for the Flying Eagles looks to be depth. Kaitlyn Hamb, who also recently signed with WVU Tech softball, talked about the team after her signing last week.
“We have talent all over the field. We have 12 players that could easily start,” Hamb said. “It is nice knowing if we have a player down, we have another one that is just as good that go in and fill that position.”
Bird agreed with his senior outfielder and also feels the competition among the team will be good for his club this year.
“I think we will be a deeper team than what we have been in the past. I probably have 10-to-12 girls that could start and I would be happy with starting any of them,” Bird said. “That is a good problem to have. It gives us options. When you are on the field and you know there is somebody over there that can take your spot, you are going to do a little more.”
Beckley opens the season on the road at South Charleston, Wednesday, March 13.
