The Vardaman Lady Rams experienced a state title in fast-pitch softball last spring, but they have yet to conquer the slow-pitch mountain.
The Lady Rams have not experienced the same level of postseason success in slow-pitch as fast-pitch in recent years, and head coach Josh Hegwood is hoping to reverse that trend this season.
“Any time we step on the field, we’re wanting to compete for a state championship,” Hegwood said. “I feel like we’ll have a very competitive team, and one of our goals this year is going to be trying to go a little farther in the playoffs because we’ve been to the first round the last two years and haven’t gotten out, so that’d be a big stepping stone.”
Hegwood will be depending upon a group of upperclassmen to lead his team with names like Caroline Casey, Sarah Wooten and Adrienne Myers paving the way for his younger talent.
“We’ve got a really good core of people who have been starters the past two or three years, so we do have some experience now. We’ve got about three or four positions we’ve got to fill with some youth. I think we’ve got a couple of ninth graders like Amry Logan and Kyleigh Scott that are going to probably fill in a couple of those.”
There have been murmurings from the MHSAA in recent years about disbanding slow-pitch as a sponsored sport, but Hegwood believes that slow-pitch provides its benefits, such as extra training for his program and another chance to compete for a championship.
“My personal view of this is yes, it is beneficial and that we work on defense and hitting another three or four months,” Hegwood said. “Now, obviously, hitting off slow-pitch is different, but still the basic fundamentals of staying back behind the ball and trying to hit something hard somewhere. There’s a lot of good that can come from it.”
The Lady Rams open their season at the Hamilton Classic on Aug. 6 against Hamilton and Mooreville before participating in the Calhoun County Tournament on Aug. 10.