MSHSAA announced on Monday, Mar. 16 that they would not be cancelling spring sports due to the Coronavirus. There will be delays to the start of the season and you can read the full MSHSAA release on spring sports by clicking here. Many area schools have called off classes and extracurricular activities through at least Apr. 3 and will reassess at that time. We will continue to post our spring previews. Please note that this preview was written before delays for the spring season were announced.
By Chris Parker
Miller softball will look to climb back above .500 this year with six starters returning from last season’s team that finished 9-14 overall.
The returning starters include: Jessica Epps (senior outfielder), Jazmin McElroy (senior outfielder), Taylor Belcher (senior first base/designated player), Kaylee Helton (sophomore catcher), Ashlynn Hill (sophomore pitcher) and Alli Mitchell (sophomore outfielder).
Helton was named first-team all-conference at catcher last year. She led that group in hitting with a .470 batting average while driving in 20 runs.
Mitchell hit .444 while driving in 21 runs and scoring another 26 runs. She was named first-team all-conference as an outfielder.
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Hill, who was honorable mention all-conference, led the Lady Cardinals in the circle at pitcher. Epps joined her on the all-conference honorable mention team as a utility player and hit .423.
Sophomore Claudia Hadlock (infielder) along with freshmen Hailey Mart (infield/outfield), Hailey Schnake (pitcher/infield), Alyssa Hill (infield), Addison Stockton (infield) and Lillie Ricketts (infield) will all also see time on varsity.
“We have good experience and better team speed than any of the past three seasons. We should be able to move people around because we have good athletes who can play multiple positions. We also have more depth than this season,” Miller head coach Jamie LaSalle said. “We need to continue to improve on pitching depth. We also need to be able to manufacture more runs with the running game and bunting game as well.”
