Lady Knights look for frest start
The Lady Knight softball team at Tyler Consolidated is gearing up for a fresh start this season with 10 of their 17 players on the roster returning as letter winners.
“We’re looking for a good season,” said veteran head coach of the team Charlene Galluzzo. “We’ve got kids that want to win, and I think we’ll be surprising a few people.”
Last season, the Lady Knights lost five seniors to graduation who played a huge part on the team: Kaitlyn Goudy, Shaylee Dawson, Kayla Fisher, Heather Lynch and Rachel Yoho.
This year, several team members will be expected to step up and take leadership positions in order to top last seasons 13-10 record.
In 2009 Consolidated placed second in the LKAC North, and qualified for the LKC tournament. This season with players on the roster who received an abundance of post-season honors last year, the Lady Knights are sitting pretty even though the first pitch has not been thrown.
Returning to the squad, this time as seniors, are Christy Jones (pitcher, third base, outfield) and Stephana Wilcox (third base, DP). Jones received LKC honorable mention for the infield, and all-valley honorable mentions last year while Wilcox received LKC honorable mention, utility player. Maika McIntyre (outfield, DP) returns as a letter winner and exchange student, Maria Ayala (outfield) joins the team.
Junior letter winners back at the plate for the year include Heather Suter (shortstop, pitcher, outfield); Amanda Goodfellow (1st base, utility), Mallory Hammond (outfield), and Emily Moore (1st base, right field, pitcher).
Three strong sophomores, already touting letters in the sport, return in ’10: Sami Jones (catcher), Keri Suter (2nd base, pitcher, outfield), and Jennifer Yost (outfield, catcher).
Six freshmen, at least three vying for starting positions, are new to the Knight line-up: Taylor Clem (utility, pitcher), Torrye Cline (utility, pitcher), Tayler Vossen (outfield), Tori Hizer (utility), Martina Parrish (utility), and Joetta Peck (utility).
“We have several kids that can play several positions,” the coach said. “We have freshmen who will be battling seniors and juniors for starting positions, and sophomores who can hold their own with the upperclassmen.”
“I’m anxious to get the season started to see where this team takes us this year. We’ve got kids that want to play and want to win. That bodes very well for us.”
Galluzzo will be assisted this season by Tomela Paden and Roger Smith.
The Lady Knights will begin their season on March 22 when they host St. Marys.