Little River – While the team failed to reach their ultimate goal of winning a state title, all things considered, North Myrtle Beach softball coach Danny Susral is happy with the progress of his 2023 team.
The Chiefs were fairly young across the board and just happened to play in the toughest region (6-AAAA) in the state. The two teams left playing for the AAAA Lower State title were region members West Florence and South Florence. The Chiefs finished with a 10-20 overall record.
“I’m extremely proud of this group,” the coach said. “ I knew going in that we were going to be young – whenever you lose six seniors from the year before, you’re going to be young moving forward. Of our two seniors going in to this season, one suffered a season-ending injury two weeks into game play. This group has loads of talent, we just simply didn’t always play our best.”
Youth combined with a tough schedule, in and out of region six, was a tough combination to fight against at times during the season.
“I also knew going in to this season, that we had one heck of a tough schedule,” susral said. “ Obviously our region is ALWAYS extremely tough (West and South playing in the Lower State Champ Series, Hartsville had a good run as well), but then our non-region schedule was very difficult: Conway (lost district AAAAA finals), Marion (playing in Lower state AA finals), Loris (AAA lower state finals), St James (lower state AAAAA finals), Dillon (AAA lower state championship), McMichael (28-0 in NC, #1 seed in their tourney), and Crescent (AAA upper state champion).
“Don’t get me wrong, I hate losing as much as the next person, but we played an extremely tough schedule. By the time we got to the playoffs, we had seen some of the best teams around our state. We made a little noise that first week of the AAAA playoffs, and honestly, finally played to our best ability. Ran into West Florence again, and then didn’t quite play our best that second time at Colleton County.”
Susral has effectively reviewed this past season and sees plenty to be pleased with. His team showed a lot of grit and determination, and became a very competitive AAAA team. And the future looks plenty bright, he said.
The biggest loss from this year’s roster will be senior shortstop Aaliyah Earl, a starter since the seventh-grader. Earl was a first-team all-region selection, along with freshman Hadley Leonhardt, an all-purpose performer.
Pitcher Nealy Lockner, a sophomore, earned second-team all-region honors. Freshman second baseman Sierra Bendik and freshman third baseman Izzy Bruno also were second-team selections.
Savanna Robledo was the only other senior this spring.
Freshman Cheyenne Davis also gained experience as a pitcher. Freshman Sadie Olson is the catcher and freshman Lilly Carney shared first base duties with Lockner.
Working in the outfield were MB Carrick and Mia Cousins, sophomore Kiera Olson,
“Moving forward, we’re going to miss Aaliyah Earl,” Susral concludes. “Everyone else will be returning, and we had a great bunch of players who gained some valuable experience. We’ll be a year bigger, a year stronger, and a year more experienced. I’m looking forward to growing and getting ready for next year.”
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