Lake View – With a fairly young team, the 2023 Lake View softball team managed 16 wins and were one of the last three teams remaining in the Class A Lower State playoffs.
Coach Brandy Huggins was quite encouraged by how her young roster grew over the course of the season and ended up as a competitive unit.
Huggins is hoping a roster full of returning players will mean her 2024 squad can take the next step. Huggins begins her 13th season with a 195-83 career head coaching record.
“We have a lot of experience and leadership returning on the infield and we hope to just get better each day at practice and each game we play.”
While experienced overall, this year’s roster has only two seniors. Those two seniors are vitally important to the success of this year’s team.
Raven Locklear is Lake View’s top pitcher and shortstop Emma King is the top returning offensive threat. Both have been a part of the varsity program since they were seventh-graders.
Locklear finished last season with 14 pitching victories, recording 156 strikeouts with a 2.06 earned run average. She also contributed at the plate, hitting .418 with six homers and her 37 RBI’s lead the team.
King finished 2023 with a .559 batting average, belting 11 triples with 36 runs scored and 18 stolen bases.
“I hope to see much leadership from Raven and Emma,” Huggins reports.
Two more key leaders are junior first baseman Hollie Scott and sophomore third baseman Kaleigh Blackmon, both returning starters. Scott missed about half of the season a year ago but finished with a .479 batting average.
Freshman Chloe Cox will be the full-time catcher after splitting time between the outfield and the dish last season. Eighth-grader Hanna Coburn returns as the starter at second base.
Freshman Zy’Kiara Waters returns in centerfield and junior Kaylynn Turner returns in left. Both were starters a year ago and gained valuable playing experience. Sharing time early in right field are eighth-grader Carleigh Matthews, eighth-grader Sarah Price and freshman Madilyn Hunt.
Working as the designated hitter is freshman Maddison Strickland, who can also play first base. Seventh-graders Cannon Price and Sophia Rogers also will work as backups during their first varsity campaign.
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