The Lady Hawks softball team will look to have another successful year after making it to the NCAA Division II Regional tournament last year. First year head coach Jessie Homesley, who spent five years as an assistant before being named the head coach this past summer, has her squad charged and ready for what they hope will be another successful year.

Homesley is optimistic for the season.

“I am super excited for this year. This group of girls have great team chemistry, and that should help us a lot this year.” Homesley said.

The Gulf South Conference (GSC) has proven to be a challenging conference in the past and coach Homesley knows that.

“The GSC is a very exciting conference, and anybody can be beat on any given weekend,” Homesley said.

But the team knows its talent, having a nearly identical, returning roster. They only lost one senior last year. Eight of their starters, including all three of their pitchers, have returned. Senior Kalei Clark, junior Hannah Draper and sophomore Payton Lippet, who was selected to the GSC pre-season all-conference team, will be key players against the opposing teams’ hitters. Lippert looks to build off her freshman year, where she threw over 190 innings and had over 100 strikeouts.

“My main key to having a good year is to never be satisfied,” Lippert said. “I have to work hard to be better every single day, and work to have more than one go-to pitch this year.”

Senior corner infielders Kameron Carter, who hit .337 with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs last year, and Ericka Bynum, who hit .260 with one home run and had 22 RBIs last year, will lead the offense for the Lady Hawks this year. Junior catcher Taylor Oda, who batted .223 with 6 doubles, one triple, and had 10 RBIs last year; junior outfielder Peyton Barthel, who batted .268 with three home runs and had 22 RBIs last year; and sophomore outfielder Tiffany Holland, who batted .368 with 24 RBIs and had 13 stolen bases last year, will all be vital players for the Lady Hawks this season.
“The biggest things that will help me this year are being consistent at the plate and working hard every day at practice to be the best that I can be to help my team,” Holland said. “I think the biggest key to our success this year will be maintaining our team camaraderie. We will also need to be consistent and bring our athleticism and ability to the field every game.”

The Lady Hawks are slated to finish seventh in the conference this year. Their season started Saturday, Feb. 4, against the University of Montevallo and Flagler University in Columbus, Ga., in a crossover tournament.

The Shorter baseball team is putting on the final touches for what they hope will be a great year. Second year head coach Wes Timmons has added many new pieces — 19 freshman and four junior college transfers.

“I am excited about having a new group of players who are eager to change this program into what we are hoping it will be,” Timmons said.

The Hawks will be looking for some junior college transfers to play vital roles this year. Coker College transfers Will Winslow and Jack Leech are two fifth year seniors who the Hawks will rely on to lead their high-powered offense. Two other big transfers that the team is counting on are Isaiah Maddela at shortstop and left-handed pitcher Jesse Wheeler out of the bullpen.

“I’m excited to see how this recruiting class and the transfers that coach brought in will do. Shubert, Banks and Pintaro will help us pitching wise, and the transfer guys such as Will and Jack will definitely bring us experience,” Wheeler said.

The team will also look for key contributions from senior middle infielder Patrick Sanderson, first baseman Dustin Lawson and right fielder Blaze Vasquez.

Vasquez said, “I am going to try and provide the same offense that I did last year and hopefully do better this year. I also hope to be a good leader to this talented group of freshmen we have.”

Wes Timmons and his team are picked to finish 11 in the Gulf South Conference this year.