Triton senior pitcher Mallorie Jennings is ready to start up what could be a big season for Trojan softball. (Photo by Mike Deak)

BOURBON – It doesn’t take long for Triton softball head coach Steve McBride or senior ace Mallorie Jennings to overview last year. It’s in the past, let’s get the job done this year.

“We bring back just about everyone, and all of those kids remember how that regional ended,” McBride said. “We just ran into a team that could have beaten just about anyone in the state, us included. We were just proud of winning a sectional and having a chance.”

McBride’s reference to the regional, which ended 9-0 in favor of host Lakewood Park Christian, the eventual 1-A state champions, was a bittersweet moment for a Triton program that has reversed course in recent years. After a low period where numbers were down and morale wasn’t very high, McBride’s teams began to turn the ship around. Concluding the 2013 season with just the second sectional championship in program history, the Lady Trojans won 22 games, which broke the school record for victories in a season.

“We had a very nice season, but we had a lot of breaks go our way,” McBride said. “We were in a lot of one-run games that went our way, and we didn’t have any major injuries. Two seasons ago, we were hammered with injuries. I can only hope this year we can avoid injuries again.”

Jennings, who is rewriting the Triton softball record book as a pitcher, blew past the career strikeout record and finished the 2013 season with 551 total K’s after fanning 244 last year. Jennings was 17-8 overall with just a 1.26 earned run average and a 1.06 WHIP, allowing just 186 batters to reach base of the 482 batters she faced.

“Our season last year really was a great season, it was a great accomplishment to win a sectional and set the wins record,” Jennings said. “But we lost nine games, and we shouldn’t have lost most of those. We have some work to do. I think our defense will be better, and we should be better at offense, too.”

Brycelyn Garbison should give McBride a nice one-two combo in the pitching circle with Jennings. Garbison pitched in 10 games last season, winning five of them and carried a 2.70 ERA. Behind the dish, Allyson Brown was a rock and will start for the third consecutive season. Brown also hit .388 with 29 RBIs and 16 runs scored.

Up the middle, Krystal Sellers will play short and should carry the big stick again. Sellers had a whopping slash line of .524/.598/.854 and led Triton in hits (54), singles (34), homers (7), RBIs (30), runs (41) and walks (14). Lillie Berger will return to second base and gave Triton a stable top-of-the-order bat. Hannah Jennings should return to center field where she settled in, and offered a .330 batting average.

The corner positions in the infield could see some movement, but McBride likes what Laura Hostrawser has shown at first and Megan Berger at third. Garbison will likely also see time at third. Zoee Stephan, Kayla Kreft and speedy Heather Stichter could also work into the infield at some point.

The corner outfielders should include a combination of Janae Kreft, Hayley Zimmerman, Lexie Lemler and Amanda Warrick, who all saw at least 16 games last season.

In a nod to irony, Triton will move this season from the old sectional that had Argos, Culver and company to the grid that Lakewood Park vacated in moving to Class 2-A. In that mix include Bethany Christian and Elkhart Christian among others. Triton will also be playing in its final season of the Northern State Conference as its presently constructed. The chance to create some interesting goals has Jennings ready to start the season.

“Our first goal is to win the conference, but we know there are some really good teams there,” Jennings said. “Bremen was really good last year, so was Jimtown and New Prairie. We don’t have a softball conference champions banner hanging in the gym and we would like to add one.

“It will be different playing in a new sectional,” Jennings continued. “We know all the old teams like the back of our hand. We see a couple of the new teams like Bethany. We just have to be prepared. Maybe we can pick up where Lakewood Park left off.”

Wildcats Looking To Rebound

Brad Clark’s Whitko team look to build from a 2013 campaign that saw progress but goals that were left on the table. The Lady Wildcats have a pair of seniors entering their fourth year of service in outfielder Jenny Brown and second baseman Amanda Shepherd. Junior Aly Nicodemus has played all over the field, and has done so with the varsity for now her third season, leading last year’s team in runs scored.

Junior outfielder Maddie Gawthrop suffered a broken hand last season but was an impact player while healthy and sophomore Sydney Lancaster was on base a bunch for Whitko in her first season, leading the team in walks, on base percentage and was second in stolen bases.

“We were down 7-0 (to Bellmont in the sectional) after the first inning but played them even the rest of the game,” Clark said of the 9-2 loss in last year’s sectional. “That seemed to be a common theme last year. We would play opponents very tough for a couple of innings, but seemed to have one bad inning at some point to take us out of the game. That actually had us highly motivated going into the summer and offseason as we knew we could compete if we limited and cleaned up those mistakes.”

Vikings Also Return A Bunch

The Lady Vikings of Tippecanoe Valley showed it had some fight at last year’s Lakeland Sectional during a 9-4 victory against a very game NorthWood team. The fight ran out the next night in a lopsided loss to Fairfield, but Tippy shouldn’t lose much ground.

With just one senior in 2013, Valley finished up the season with five juniors on the roster and a lot of talented youth behind them. Of the lot who should stand out for Valley this spring include returning seniors Robyn Dunnuck, Diana Baca, Kelsey Eckert and All-TRC performer Danielle Adams along with juniors Lauren Early and Kassidy Shepherd. In all, Valley have eight starters and three others returning from last season.

Tippecanoe Valley will be led this spring by first-year head coach Todd Volk.

“Our seniors have really been great in understanding what we expect of them and instilling those expectations in the underclassmen,” Volk said. “Between them, coach (Chris) Kindig and (athletic director Duane) Burkhart, they have made my transition easy.”