2023 Spring Preview: Diamond Softball

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By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Each of the last three seasons has been better than the one before it for Diamond’s softball team, but it’ll be hard to top last spring.

The Wildcats, fresh off a fourth-place finish in 2021, won 22 of 23 games to end the year and earned the program’s first championship with a win over defending champion Skyline in the Class 2 title game.

Diamond went 29-3 overall with 11 shutouts and scored 10 or more runs in 14 contests. The team averaged eight runs per game and allowed fewer than two.

“Our girls just played exceptionally well all season long and were hungry to prove themselves,” head coach Kelsey Parrish said. “They fell short the season before at the Final Four, they worked hard all season and it just came out in our favor. We played some really good teams and it was a huge fight.”

The Wildcats could be poised for more postseason success, too, with the team returning seven of nine starters from the championship team.

They’ll have to replace first team Class 2 All-State pitcher Madison Bentley, who was also the Southwest Conference Player of the Year and first team all-region. She batted .484 with 16 doubles, three triples and 11 home runs and went 18-2 on the mound with 230 strikeouts in 128.2 innings. And first team all-conference first baseman Lexy Bridges also graduated after batting .424 with 13 doubles, 31 RBI and 21 stolen bases.

Sophomore Lauren Turner and junior Caitlyn Suhrie will help replace Bentley in the circle. Turner is the most experienced arm, having thrown 48 innings with seven starts as a freshman. She was 8-0 with 100 strikeouts and allowed 17 runs. Suhrie pitched the remaining 23 innings and was 3-1 with five earned runs and 30 strikeouts.

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Junior Grace Frazier returns at catcher after earning first team all-conference and second team all-region honors. She batted .489 with six extra-base hits and led the team in runs scored (43) and stolen bases (33).

Turner, who was second team all-state and first team all-conference and all-region as an infielder last year, will play in the middle infield when she’s not pitching. She was a .472 hitter with 16 doubles, 42 runs and 18 stolen bases. And Suhrie, when she’s not pitching, will likely play center field. She was a first team all-state, all-conference and all-region outfielder as a sophomore and she batted .453 with a team-high eight home runs while driving in 35 and scoring 40. She also stole 18 bases.

Senior Piper Brewer returns at third base after earning second team all-conference honors. She was a .356 hitter with nine doubles, a homer and 14 stolen bases. Senior Emilee Shallenburger returns to the middle infield after batting .273. She and Turner switched back and forth between second and shortstop last season.

Senior MaKayah Culbertson is back after serving as designated player and right fielder. And sophomore Kabrie Parmley, an honorable mention all-conference player, will likely play in left or center.

“Our seven that are returning are super strong and they were a huge part of what we accomplished last year so I’m very fortunate to have them,” said Parrish, who was the Southwest Conference Coach of the Year last spring. “I have six new freshmen coming in and sophomore Sara Roszell will be fighting for a position. I’m fortunate with just how much they’ve bought into the program.”

Diamond will play Sarcoxie, Liberal and Jasper in a jamboree March 11 at the Joplin sports complex; that event will raise money for Camp Quality Ozarks, a camp for children with cancer.

The Wildcats open the regular season March 17-18 in the Joplin Area Tournament hosted by Purdy and play their first home game March 28 against Ash Grove.

“We’ve added some Kansas and Arkansas teams this year that had good success in the postseason last year and are in a similar situation with a lot of returners to strengthen our schedule even more,” Parrish said. “We continue to travel a little further just to have bigger games and see more teams.”

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