By Cooper Chadwick
Coming off a 14-7 season, South Sumner softball is returning a strong lineup with hopes of making a deep playoff run with this level of experience.
Of their nine starters last year, South Sumner is returning eight of them: two seniors, five juniors and one sophomore. They also have a large incoming freshman class and head coach Melissa Jolly-Breithaupt is eager for them to step up.
Last season the Outlaws had multiple first team all-league players, in juniors Ava Newell and Ella Risley, who was also 18th in the state stolen bases.
They also had two all-league honorable mention players in junior catcher Brecken Hustler, who was fourth in state for caught stealing as a catcher, and sophomore pitcher Maddy Ferguson, who was 12th in the state in strikeouts.
“We are coming in strong and hungry this season as we have some unfinished business to take care of and new goals to achieve,” Jolly-Breithaupt said.
Jolly-Breithaupt is in her third year with South Sumner and hopes her democratic coaching style will help the outlaws continue to win games.
“I believe in listening and encouraging the ladies to have an opinion and ownership as I feel that that builds trust and honesty within a team. We all need to be humble enough to learn something from each other, as one team, on our path to greatness that we have set out to achieve,” Jolly-Breithaupt said. “We expect teams to come prepared but we need to stay humble but hungry as we go throughout our season. We plan to really focus on our team and how we can build up and strengthen ourselves, our teammates, and our community.”
