KELLYVILLE – The Kellyville fast-pitch softball team is officially back practicing, preparing for the upcoming 2023 season and despite losing several key components from last year’s squad, head coach Scott Neighbors believes they can be just as competitive, if not more so, this time around.
While a number of other softball teams in the area participated in some low-pressure summer league games in June in order to get their players more game action against varsity competition and to accurately evaluate their players, Kellyville opted not to. Neighbors indicated that a number of players already were playing club softball and there were some scheduling conflicts, so he just concentrated on having them work on general conditioning.
“We did not play games this summer, we focused primarily on athleticism,” Neighbors said. “We did a lot of speed and agility, weightlifting, things of that nature. The majority of our kids play some type of competitive ball, so really, it was more of a battle than it was worth, so we just went in the other direction.”
Coming off a 2022 season in which they went 14-19 and reached the Class 3A regional playoffs, the Ponies will have some young players this season – five freshmen are on the roster – and Neighbors isn’t exactly sure how things will go.
“We graduated five seniors. One was an All-Stater, all five of them got college offers, and all five of them started,” Neighbors said. “But having said that, we feel confident that we’ve got kids to fill those roles. We’ll be okay. We’re finally on the east side for districts, we’re not driving all over the west anymore, so that helps us a lot. I do feel like we’re going to be in the top four in our district. Our district is going to be competitive, we got good teams in there. State-wise, you just don’t know.
“We’re going to have two new starters in the outfield, going to have a new starter at second, at catcher, so we don’t know how it’s going to go yet. We have good athletes, the puzzle pieces fit.
I think that we have an opportunity to be very good and we have an opportunity to be very bad. It’s really up to the girls. We have the ability, we have the athleticism, we have the pitching, we have the hitting. Our defense is as strong as it’s been since I’ve been here. We have all the pieces, it’s just a matter of if it all comes together and we make the right decisions.”
Neighbors was reluctant to highlight any individual players that he will be counting on this season, because he wants to promote the team concept. But there’s little question that two crucial contributors who will fuel the Ponies’ success this year will be seniors Antonia McGuire, who led the team in most hitting categories last season, and Erin Reed, who will be the team’s top pitcher.
“Toni’s maybe the best all-around player that we’ve had in a very long time,” Neighbors said. “She’s fast, she’s got the glove. Toni’s really not a pure softball player, she’s an amazing basketball player, she’s a phenomenal trackster, Toni can do it all. She’s a great athlete. Erin’s going to be our pitcher. Last year, she was struggling, she had broken her foot the year before, still had some issues with that, but she’s 100 percent healthy.
“We don’t have one player. We’ve got nine and it’s going to take all nine of them. There’s not one kid that’s going to carry this program. That’s kind of the thing that we’ve prided ourselves on at Kellyville. We don’t want it to be about one player. I don’t want it to be about one player, I want it to be about the team.”
Each player has their role to play and Neighbors expects them to do it the best they can. They have to rely on everyone to be successful.
“Erin’s going to be our pitcher, Erin’s going to be the best pitcher she can be on our team, but she can’t do it without the other eight players,” Neighbors said. “Kylar Goins, she’s another one of our seniors, she’s going to be our catcher – she’s going to be the best catcher on our team because that’s her job. I could go to every position. We’re going to have a sophomore at first base, we’re going to have a freshman at second base, we’re going to have a sophomore at third base. They’re going to be the best players on our team at those positions because that’s their job. We’re going to have two sophomores, a junior and a senior in the outfield – they’re going to be the best outfielders on our team, because that’s their job.”
Neighbors noted that the Ponies’ practice jerseys have a phrase written on them that has become the team’s guiding principle.
“Everybody laughs, we have these terribly ugly practice jerseys, they’re fluorescent orange, green and yellow,” Neighbors said. “But on the back of them, it says, ‘Attitude and effort builds champions,’ and if we can live by that, we’re going to be pretty good, because those are the areas we struggle with. It’s the attitude and the effort, it’s not the ability. Go out and play your butt off and do the best you can and see how the cards fall. And if we do that, I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
Kellyville opens its season on August 7 with a District 3A-7 matchup against Beggs at home at 5 p.m. As Neighbors noted, the Ponies will undoubtedly benefit this season from having reduced travel distances when facing district foes. After having to visit distant teams like Blackwell, Newkirk, Alva and Oklahoma City Star Spencer last year, Kellyville will be competing in its own district this year against Beggs, Chandler, Lincoln Christian (Tulsa), Morris, Prague and Sperry.
The big early highlight of the schedule is their big annual Kellyville Festival (not a tournament), which takes place at home Aug. 17-19.
