VYPE: Defensively your team seems to be one of the best in the class. How has the defense helped win games and how has the pitching held up this season?
Lacy Darity: I’ve been very pleased with our defense thus far. Our pitchers have done a tremendous job of holding opposing offenses down by pitching to contact and allowing our defense to make plays behind them. They’re also doing a great job of hitting their spots and forcing weak contact, which is making
our defense’s job a lot easier. Our pitching and defense has been very consistent thus far and has kept us in most games. Seniors Amelia Mason and Aubree Hall lead the staff with a 1.2 ERA for each and 109 K’s.
VYPE: Offensively the team has shown the ability to produce runs, where are they with offensive output and what areas are they still improving?
LD: We have gotten better the last few weeks offensively. We had a rough time the first few weeks of the season, but we’ve asked the girls to make adjustments and change our approach at the plate, and they’ve been very responsive. Once we started making adjustments, we really started to hit the ball well and produce quite a few runs.
VYPE: Who has really stepped up this season? Have there been any surprises?
LD: Right now, we have five starters who are hitting .400 or better, and another four who are hitting higher than .340. Juniors Reese Poage, Lexy Kierstead, Rylann Beeson, and Abigail Keele are all hitting above .400 right now in the top of our lineup. They are responsible for half of our team RBI and 10 of
our teams 14 Home Runs. Freshman Weslyn McCorvey leads the team with a .476 average and .500 on base percentage. Sophomore catcher Jade Ashbaugh has done a great job of driving in runs from the cleanup spot and is second on the team in RBI with 22.
VYPE: As a coach, what have you enjoyed most about this group?
LD: This is just a fun group to be around. We have such a diverse group of personalities, and they’re always dancing and joking around. It’s hard to be in a bad mood with this group because they’re always making people laugh. But at the same time, they work hard. This game and their goals are important to them, and they’ve been very receptive to the things we’ve asked them to do. They’re just a very enjoyable group of kids.
