Softball opens its season at 4:30 tonight against Chase County
After winning a state championship last season, softball hopes to reload for a return to state this spring.
Coach Brian Henry has high expectations for the team. “It really depends on how they come together as a team,” Henry said.
Losing only two players from the state team last year, graduate Hadley Schreiner and injured sophomore Reagan Kelley, the team plans to return strong.
“We only lost one senior and we gained some really good freshman,” senior Abby Oliver said. “We have some good underclassmen who are improving and gaining experience.”
Freshman joining the team this spring include Kaelyn Conrad, Madisyn Havenstein, Kara Hafenstine and Mayah Mumpower. “There are some underclassmen who will push for playing time. There’s some pretty good ones,” Henry said.
Wabaunsee still plans to have some competition entering the 2019 season. The girls fell to Rossville last year, and with Rossville dropping to 2A they expect to have competition in their regional this year.
“We still have to play in the tough Mid-East League and there’s a possibility of Rossville being in our regional,” Henry said, “A lot of the teams we lost to last year are returning the same talent.”
The team returns some talent of their own this year, including junior pitcher Autymn Schreiner. Schreiner announced her verbal commitment to Washburn University last week. “I’m super excited about committing to Washburn. I’ve heard so many good things about Coach Holaday and Washburn’s softball program,” Schreiner said, “Plus, they are continuing to upgrade their facilities which is awesome. Even though I can’t wait to play at the next level, I still have two more state championships to go win with our high school team.”
“It should be a good year. As long as we get along, we’ll be fine,” Henry said. The team hopes to see a lot of the same success they saw last year.
“I’m really excited to get the season started and see what our new group of really talented girls can get accomplished,” Schreiner said.
— Emma Frey, @_emmafrey_
The Charger 
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