After bringing in back-to-back district championships, the Park Hill softball team has finished below .500 each of the last two years and is hoping to get back on track.
Park Hill junior Allison Gonier will be a reliable outfielder this fall.
Park Hill will look different this year, with some different players and coaching staff. The Lady Trojans has five starters coming back and a new head coach.
“We need to work hard with a focus on the little things to get better in each facet of the game: offensive defense and pitching,” Park Hill softball coach Jeremy Benninghoff said. “The returning starters need to play well with help from the newcomers.”
Outfielder Lauren Oakley is the sole senior who started last year. Allie Gonier and Kylee Page will fill out the outfield in their junior campaigns.
Park Hill also has a pair of experienced sophomores coming back with catcher Brynlee Johnson and short stop Brooklyn Bertoncino. The Lady Trojans also had a slew of players who saw time off the bench in 2022 with Autumn Bridges, Taylor Landeck, Cooper Powell and Lauren Emmendorfer.
“They’re hard working, coachable leaders with young talent eager to get better. We return all three of our young pitchers and add a fourth to the rotation, a freshman, when healthy,” Benninghoff said.
Mandi Bock is the freshman pitcher who will be fighting for some time on the mound, alongside Page, Bertoncino and Bridges. Senior Chloe Delk, junior Jaeda Stroud and sophomore Cali Proffitt will round up the roster.
Last year Park Hill had some offensive struggles, averaging its least amount of runs since 2017, scoring four runs and giving up 6.9 runs a game. The Lady Trojans went 11-19 – being shut out four times and scoring only one run seven times – last fall and were knocked out of districts in the first game for the second straight season.