MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — Coming off of a 41-13 record and a third Tennessee Community College Athletic Association and NJCAA Region VII championship as well as the third trip to the NJCAA Division I Softball Championship in St. George, Utah, a young, but hungry and talented Walters State softball team will look to make it back-to-back TCCAA and NJCAA Region VII titles for the first time in program history.
With just six sophomores on the roster, of which five are returnees and one is a transfer, veteran coach Larry Sauceman will go to battle with 17 freshmen, including a transfer, this season in hopes of getting his team back to the junior college softball mountaintop when the schedule begins the second weekend of February.
The fall season showed Sauceman and assistant coach Mitch Taylor exactly what the Lady Senators needed to work on to get better and be successful, and after a hard winter of workouts and preparation, the new season is clearly in focus.
"We have lots of youth, and we don't really know what to expect from them until we can get out there and get some games under our belt," Sauceman said. "We will see how it goes. Our first four weekends of the season are very tough, so they will be thrown to the fire right away. We will have to see how they respond."
The Lady Senators open the season on Friday, Feb. 8, when they take part in the Visit Dothan Invitational in Alabama where they will face Central Alabama, Northwest Florida State, Gulf Coast State, Fayetteville Technical and perennial national power Wallace State.
The following weekend (Feb. 15-16), it will be another trip to Alabama to play in the Coastal Alabama Tournament against the likes of NJCAA Division II powers Jones County and LSU Eunice, Central Alabama again, Illinois Central and Shelton State.
The third straight trip to Alabama commences on Feb. 22 with games against Itawamba, Lake Land and Snead State in Boaz before TCCAA play begins against perennial favorite Chattanooga State at home on March 1. The four-game set with the Tigers begins a 36-game TCCAA slate which features home weekends against Volunteer State, Dyersburg State and Motlow State while the Lady Senators hit the road to face Jackson State, Southwest Tennessee, Roane State, Cleveland State and Columbia State.
"This team is growing up and maturing every day," Sauceman said. "I go into every season with the expectation that if we do what we are capable of doing, we can make it to the national tournament. That's never going to change.
"A lot this season will depend on what this team wants to do. It will depend on how much they want to get out of it. The more you put into something, the more you will get out of it. That's how it will be for this team. And right off the bat, they will be challenged. We have a lot of freshmen, but we can't look at it that way. We will throw them out there and let them go and see who wants to compete."
This year's pitching staff consists of sophomore Delilah Malczewski and freshmen Megan Bell, Raylon Smith and Lauren Brickey, who will also see action in the infield. Behind the dish, sophomore Lexi McDowell returns and is joined by Taylor Henson. Malczewski is a transfer from Kaskaskia Junior College in Illinois and Bell transferred in from Morehead State after a redshirt year.
"Our pitchers will have to do well for us to be successful," Sauceman assessed. "They will be a big key for us. We have four of them we can work with, and right now I couldn't tell you who will be our No. 1 through No. 4. Malczewski has experience from a year ago and Bell is a Division I transfer, but that's about all we know about it right now without being out there in games yet."
In the infield, a pair of sophomores return in Emily Whitaker and Keeley Quillen, while freshmen Mia Edwardson, Kristen Hall, Saylor Johnson, Taylor McConnell, Maggie Middleton, Regan Miller, Olivia Wheeler and Brickey join the fray. McCoy Hensley is a utility player who can see time in the infield as well as the outfield.
Around the outfield, sophomores Tia Wilson and Emma Seagrave return, and they are joined by freshmen Jenica Brown, Erin Foster, Kallyn Newport, Sydney Fox and Sydney Dukes. Fox also splits time as a catcher, while Dukes can play in the infield as well.
"We really don't know what to expect from this team, but they have a whole different look to them now that it is spring and the season starts this week," Sauceman said. "They have a different mindset than they had in the fall. I'm anxious to see them play."
Despite a plethora of youth talent mixed in with some seasoned veterans, Sauceman's goals and expectations for the 2019 campaign are much the same as they are every year — use early season stiff competition and the tough TCCAA schedule to get the team ready to peak in May for a long postseason run.
"I think it's good to go out and play against really good competition early on and let the girls see that right away," Sauceman said. "The more good talent you see early on, the better you will be prepared for the conference schedule. That's what it is all about. We want them to get better by facing tough competition and be ready to compete for a conference championship. We have a good track record of that around here, and I wouldn't expect anything different this year."