Apollo softball looks to shake things up in the 9th District this season, hoping to build on last season with a mix of experience and plenty of newcomers filling out the roster for the 2023 campaign.
The E-gals are coming off of a 2022 campaign in which they finished 17-14 overall, falling just short of reaching the 9th District Championship with a 9-4 first-round loss to Owensboro Catholic. They lost Olivia Crawford, Courtney Hagan and Sydney Saalwaechter to graduation, now needing to fill in spots in the outfield and in the circle—especially with senior pitcher K’Asia Palmer transferring to Owensboro High School as well.
Apollo has a much similar build of their roster from a year ago though, being led by senior pitcher and future Dyersburg State member Emmie Bullington to go along with senior utility players Morgan Julian (.411 batting average) and Morgan Frizzell (.206 batting average). They’ll be joined in the lineup by a number of returnees including freshman third baseman Arianna Ramirez, who’s .351 batting average and seven home runs along with her defense at the hot corner earned her a spot on the All-District team as an eighth grader.
The E-gals will have their anchor behind the plate again in sophomore Macey Calhoun, as well as junior outfield/utility player Mallory Velotta and eighth grader Lily Logsdon—who became their starting shortstop as a seventh grader later in the season. Head Coach Stephen Julian said that they will also be looking to a number of newcomers for some major contributions this season, including sophomore Abby Miles, junior Hannah Snell, freshman Liza Page, freshman Taylor Clark, freshman Hannah Holder, eighth grader Mollie Julian and sophomore Abbie Butterworth.
With a strong returning core and a nice blend of youth and experience throughout the roster, Apollo wants to take a step forward as a program this season by staying sharp in three key facets of the game.
“We hope to improve on last season,” Julian said. “We return our main core from last year and so hopefully we can improve on where we were from last year… Like always—pitching, defense and timely hitting [will be key to success].”
Julian said that the E-gals will need a true team effort throughout the season, looking to give Bullington (14-7, 2.99 ERA, 93 K’s) some help on the bump and counting on every single person to contribute to wins as the season progresses.
“We really need to find a pitcher to help support Emmie so she does not have to carry all the load like she did last year,” Julian said. “Then of course you hope each player improves on what they did the previous season and continue to excel…We will be looking for several players not previously mentioned to help out significantly as well.”
Apollo will start the 2023 season on the road, taking on Henderson County at 5:45 p.m. on Monday and Hancock County at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 16.
