Lady Panthers getting into the swing of things
Stewart hopes to improve upon success
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Sentinel photo/Jared Putnam Amanda Mason gets in a few swings with the help of Brittany Massey-Lentz.

Finishing a season ranked fifth in the state sets the bar for success awfully high, but the Lady Panthers softball team is intent on a repeat performance.

"It's going to be hard to try to match [last season,] but we're working on it," Lady Panthers Head Coach Jessica Stewart said. "We definitely want to try to match it or do better."

Coach Stewart held team tryouts last week. Of the 26 girls who turned out, 21 secured a spot on either the varsity or junior varsity team. The first official practice followed on Monday.

"Today we're just going through a light batting practice with seven stations and a pitching machine," Coach Stewart said Monday. "It's pretty light because it's our first practice [and due to the heat.]" For now the varsity and JV teams are practicing together, but will soon be split into separate practice squads. However, at least three freshmen are expected to see action on the varsity club.

Coach Stewart she believes the new faces will help improve team hitting, which was a weak spot last year. "We lost five seniors, but the freshmen we have are probably going to be better hitters," the coach said. "I think we ended up batting .253 [as a team] last year. That's not very good. It's low, especially to finish as high as we did. If we just brought that up 10, 15, even 20 points, that would help April [ace pitcher April Harper] a lot."

The coach also expects more from the bats thanks to the addition of new Assistant Coach Jennifer Cagle, who played college softball with Coach Stewart at West Georgia. "She was a 1st- Team All Conference hitter, so that is definitely going to help us out a lot hitting-wise," Coach Stewart said. "I think it will be a good balance because I'm pretty much a defensive specialist, and she's more offensive oriented."

The team opens the season with a scrimmage game at Pickens County next Tuesday, August 14.