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A new beginning.

With a new coach, the softball team is ready for “a new beginning.”

A new face on the coaching staff always comes with its struggles, but both coaches and players alike have a positive outlook on this season. This time, with strong and ever growing bonds, the team has high hopes for what comes out of the season. They see great potential for making it further into the postseason, and are excited to have rematches against some of their biggest rivals. 

This year, Bruce Pierce is leading the team as their new coach. With a new coach stepping up the plate, there are usually challenges that arise. However, most of the girls have known Pierce as he’s coached before. “I had Bruce as a coach whenever I was playing in seventh and eighth grade. He was my freshman coach,” junior Peyton Bibb said.

Pierce is also already feeling at home in the coaching position. “With the support that I have from my coaches and the actual parents as well, it has gotten smoother, and I expect it to actually continue to move in that direction,” Pierce said.

Camaraderie amongst the team has been developing at a higher level than it had in previous years, as well. “I think this year, we’re really focusing a lot on sisterhood, and spending more time together,” senior Haley Butler said. Sisterhood is something that the team felt had been wrongly disregarded in the past. This year, that has changed, and the team feels that it will make all the difference.  

Last year, the team made it all the way to the regional championship where they played Butler and lost. This year, morale has already risen at the chance to play them again. “We really strive to beat Butler,” Butler said.

The team has high hopes for that game and thinks they have a chance, not only at beating Butler, but at progressing further than they did last year. “I think this year, we’re heading for state,” junior Kimberly Perkins said.