The Trinity baseball team struggled during the regular season but beat Edmonson County to advance to the 3rd Region Tournament after missing out the previous year. The softball team will be looking to make it to the region tournament for the first time since joining the 12th District in 2006.
Both Raider squads will have tough schedules once again, as both the 12th District and 3rd Region have plenty of talented teams.
For baseball, district opponent Grayson County won the region a year ago and returns most of their players. For softball, the 9th District has produced the region champion for more than two consecutive decades.
Read below for a general outlook on each team as provided by the head coaches.
BASEBALL
From head coach Christopher Chaffin:
Our pitching staff should be pretty solid this year. I look to improve in the hitting category for sure. We did hit the ball well last year but we had far too many strikeouts and runners left on base so we have been working on pitch selection and situational hitting to start the season.
If we get beat, I want to get beat by the other team and not by ourselves. We were in a good number of games and just didn’t execute down the stretch and we look for that to change this year.
On his players:
Matthew Mills (SR) and Kevin Foster (JR) will be our top returning arms this year. They both pitched well last year and have developed even more in the offseason. Briar Roberts (SR) should also have a good year. He is a strong kid and if he can get in a groove he could lead the power numbers in the region.
Freshmen Owen Payne, Landon Huff, Mason Mattingly and Elijah Boarman really have to play a big part this year. We are a young team with only 4 upperclassmen and no sophomores, and we will be playing four 8th-graders.
SOFTBALL
From head coach Christopher Chaffin:
I think we will have a great season. We have a lot of experienced players who are coming back. We are playing in two big tournaments, the Franklin Simpson Lady Cat Classics and the Abe Lincoln Classic in LaRue County, that will be big tests on our schedule.
Defensively, we had several errors last year in game. If we tighten up our defense, we can be as good as anyone in the region.
On his players:
Brittney Booker (SR), Nina Wathan (SR), Savannah Aull (SR), Cassidy Morris (FR) and Katherine Hibbitt (FR) are all great leaders with tons of experience. Hibbitt and Wathen are great pitchers that will have to step up in their appearances on the mound, but if they pitch like I know they can we will be in every game.
Morris is one of the best catchers in the region. Aull lead us last year with a .525 batting average and Booker was right there behind her with a .475 average.
