The ladies from Midland Trail have owned the Class A softball diamond in Region 3 the last two seasons.
Now the Patriots have their eyes set on a third straight trip to the state tournament.
“We have athletic kids and power hitters. We have kids that are two and three-sport athletes, but they have still carved out time to get get on the tee, or go down and pitch, or go down and catch,” veteran head coach Candace Young said. “Those are things you can’t help but love about your kids. I do think if we can play the defensive game and keep putting runs on the board, I am very confident in what we can do this year. I told the girls the first day of practice the goal is the same. We are going for the three-peat.”
Midland Trail lost just two seniors from last year’s team in Chezney Skaggs and Meghan Gill who were both were big-time players.
“Meg and Chez brought a lot to the team and replacing them will be tough, but if you look around the field, a lot of the defensive core is still there. A lot of our offense is still there,” Young said.
Leading the returning group this season will be catcher Sydney Sheets who recently signed with WVU Tech.
Sheets, who hit an eye-popping .518 last season with a pair of dingers, will be the anchor for a young pitching staff this season in Hico.
“Now that we have a lot of youth on the mound. Sydney, Ryley Shockey and Jenna (Stonestreet) have been going to the Community Center probably the last two or three months and they have developed that bond. As a young pitcher, you need that confidence behind the plate,” Young said.
Stonestreet saw some time in the circle last year behind Gill, but Shockey has been a pleasant surprise in the early going for Trail.
“Riley has picked it up and I think she is going to be really good,” Sheets said. “We have been working hard and we all get along. We are really scrappy, so I think we will have a really good season.”
The strength of the team this year will clearly be on the offensive side where there is no shortage of power and speed.
“We have Katie (Hawkins), Layla (Tompkins) and Madison (Campbell) still with us and all of them can kill the ball. Jenna came in and helped us last year and stepped up on the mound,” Young said.
Campbell has speed to burn and led the team with seven triples last year. The explosive senior has no stop sign and is virtually unstoppable on the base paths.
Last year Trail hit .356 as a team and scored 142 runs across 19 games, while playing an extremely tough schedule.
“We can hit. If we are not hitting, then we are bunting,” Sheets said. “This team is really versatile. We take it very seriously and we like to put a lot of pressure on the other team.”
The Patriots also have some young talent to anchor the experienced senior core that will lead the team this season.
“Ryley kind of came out of left field,” Young said. “Last year was her first year coming out for us and she has really put in the work to become a solid pitcher. I expect good things from (Anna) Weaver and (Hannah) Beeson who have been fighting for some time.”
“I also have some young girls, little (Jesse) Skaggs played some big minutes for us last year,” Young went on to say. “I am also seeing some good stuff from Nevaeh Hall who did good things in basketball season and volleyball. She has been making some athletic plays lately.”
With at least 14 kids that can play at the varsity level, the problem for Young could be getting them all on the field at some point.
“It is a good problem to have,” Young admitted. “It is very competitive, so I hope they understand that we are trying to put the most competitive team on the field. If everybody has that team player mentality, we will be fine.”
While Trail will clearly have some solid competition for the Region 3 crown this year, Young is confident her team can get the job done.
“Our biggest thing this year will be making sure that we keep our young mound confident. We need to not make mistakes behind them and leave them alone by not putting runs on the board. If we are able to do that, my plan is still the same,” Young said. “When I played here we had the three-peat and we went (to states) two or three times before that. Our name should be in the conversation for the state tournament.”
