After several down years as a whole, girls softball began a resurgence in 2014 that saw 12 teams advance to the state playoffs and two -- Buford and Dawson County -- advance to the Elite 8 in Columbus.
The Lady Wolves went on to capture their eighth straight state title and first in Class AAAA while the Lady Tigers finished fifth overall in their first-ever trip to Columbus in fast-pitch.
Things look bright again in 2015 but even Buford will go through some changes as the Lady Wolves try to replace a pair of Division I pitchers in Bria Bush and Tessa Daniels.
Buford coach Tony Wolfe has 10 seniors on the roster but few with game-experience at the varsity level. Seniors Peyton Wolfe and Kennedy Kotula, along with talented sophomore Logan Caymol, will each get time in the circle as they try to establish a solid No. 1 hurler.
Senior Baylee Sexton returns at third base and will be an offensive force (.475 BA, 27 SB) as does senior SS Drew Puckett (.264, 21 RBI), both four-year starters. Junior Samantha Thomas (.391, 9 HR, 39 RBI) also should help anchor the offense.
Wolfe said the goals are still the same -- region title, state playoffs, trip to Columbus -- but it may take more time for this group to jell than in recent years.
“We have talent and I think we’ll be a good team at some point this year,” Wolfe said. “We’re going to be a (pitching) staff by committee early on until someone jumps ahead as the No. 1. We pitched six people during the season last year so they all saw action. That is probably the main priority at the beginning.”
Buford, despite the loss of seven seniors, including five Division I and one Division II players, should be the team to beat in Region 8-AAAA again. They will play nearly all Class AAAAA and AAAAAA opponents in their non-region schedule to prepare.
“Madison County should be very good in 8-AAAA and we play a tough schedule at the beginning of the year to get ready for that. It’s a hard schedule but it’s something we need to challenge ourselves to try and get better,” Wolfe said.
Dawson County, which won Region 7-AAA, had its most memorable season to date in 2014, including a Game 3 rally from 8-0 down against East Jackson to help propel the Lady Tigers to Columbus.
However, coach Jim Pruett said they will be rebuilding after losing six seniors, including University of Pennsylvania-signee Joy Lewis in the circle, and three other starters. Lewis pitched all but three innings in 2014 for the Lady Tigers.
“Finding a No. 1 pitcher is our top priority,” Pruett said. “It’s great when you have someone like Joy but we also didn’t have anyone else get any real experience behind her so that’s the downside.”
Senior Tabitha Morrison, junior Natalie Glass, sophomore K.K. Richards, and freshman Maggie Schnedara should all see action early in the circle, Pruett said.
Offensively the Lady Tigers should be solid with Morrison (CF), Glass (SS), Sydney McGinnis (OF/INF), Katelynn Simpson (C), and Heather Brady (OF) all returning starters from a year ago.
“I think we’ll able to score some runs,” Pruett said. “We also are pretty solid defensively at all nine spots. The key will be finding some pitching. If we can find a true No. 1 we can still make a run at the region and the playoffs. I think we’ll still be very competitive no matter what.”
East Hall is one of three teams to sport new coaches in the area in 2015. Josh Joiner, an assistant with the Lady Vikings last year, takes over for Jenny Crow, who led them to their first-ever state playoffs in 2013.
Former Johnson baseball coach and current Gainesville baseball assistant David Hawkins takes over at Gainesville and Drew Owens takes the reigns at White County.
The Lady Vikings are in true rebuilding mode in 2015, however, with the loss of nine seniors and only three returning starters. Sophomore pitcher Steffanie Redmon does return in the circle after getting action last year as the No. 2 hurler. Seniors Logan Turner (2B) and Madeline Hall (CF) also return.
Three freshmen -- Kaitlyn Daniel (3B), Jennifer Lopez (SS), and Mackenzie Allen (1B) -- will anchor the infield for the Lady Vikings along with returning letterman Allison Millwood at catcher.
“We’re definitely rebuilding as a whole but I also think we have some very good talent,” Joiner said. “We don’t have much varsity experience so we’ll see how that plays early on. But I think we’ll be competitive in 7-AAA. Our goal is take things one at a time. If we do that and improve I think we can make a run at the playoffs.”
Gainesville’s Hawkins has a tough task in keeping the upward movement of the program going. The Lady Elephants set a school-record for wins in a season with 15 but narrowly missed on the playoffs.
“It was a great season last year and (former) coach (Roger) Parham did a great job of getting things headed in the right direction,” Hawkins said. “We have some talented players but our biggest concern will be in that we will have no one returning with any varsity experience in the circle.”
Sophomore Aliyah Goss is set to step in the circle for the Lady Red Elephants to start the season. They return five starters, including Brenau University-commit Whitney Ledford (Sr., C).
Senior outfielders Courtney Presnell and Kayla Montague and junior outfielder Tinisha Watson, little sister of Deshaun Watson give them a solid outfield. Sophomore Madison Oliver (3B) and junior Sydney Payne (SS) will help anchor the infield.
Gainesville was within one win of its first-ever playoff appearance in 2014 and Hawkins is hoping he can continue what Parham started.
“I feel we’ll be competitive. We’re looking for the seniors to lead us and all we want Aliyah to do is throw strikes and get better as the season goes along,” Hawkins said. “Our goal is to get into the top eight in the region to have a shot at the playoffs. Hopefully we can get that one extra win.”
All of the dozen teams to make the playoffs in 2014 have a shot to make a return trip in 2015. Flowery Branch and Winder-Barrow both made it in Class AAAAA but each was swept in first round. In Class AAAA, Buford went on to win the state title while White County advanced but was swept in first round.
In Class AAA, Dawson County made it to Columbus with Jackson County advancing to the second round. East Jackson, Lumpkin County, and Banks County all made the playoffs but were knocked out in the first round.
In Class AA, Union County advanced to the second round with Rabun County getting knocked out in the first round. Commerce made it back to the playoffs in 2014 after advancing to Columbus in 2013 but was knocked out in the first round a year ago.
Friday is the official opening of the 2015 season and once again the annual Lanier Pointe softball tournament will kick things off in the area at the Lanier Pointe Softball Complex.
The 2015 tournament figures to be very competitive once again with eight teams in the 19-team field coming off playoff appearances in 2014, highlighted by Dawson County.
The two-day tournament format will be the new format adopted last year but with a change due to one team dropping out at the last minute. There will be two five-team brackets and one nine-team bracket playing a four-game round-robin schedule. There will be no gold or silver bracket rounds to determine a champion of the tournament.
GHSA rules changes before the 2014 season dictated that the tournament have just a round-robin format and no time limits, which helped eliminate teams having to play five games in a single day.
The Blue bracket may be the toughest with three of the five teams coming playoff appearances from last year -- Flowery Branch, Jackson County, and Rabun County -- as well as Fannin County and Duluth.
The Red bracket has 2014 playoff teams Lumpkin County and Gilmer as well as West Hall, Chestatee, and Habersham Central.
The nine-team Orange bracket has three 2014 playoff teams -- Dawson County County, Union County, and Commerce -- with North Hall, North Forsyth, East Hall, Pepperell, Gainesville, and Johns Creek to round out the field.
