Maintaining their history of success, as a USA South conference powerhouse, the Piedmont Lions softball team is having yet another spectacular year. Coached by Terry Martin, John Winters and Taylor Waldrop, the Lady Lions posted an overall record of 29-8, good enough for second place in the conference in the regular season. They will be going to the conference tournament Wednesday in hopes of bringing a conference championship back to Demorest. 

This year’s team is filled with experienced seniors but having younger players is playing a key role in their success. The Lady Lions are led by senior sluggers Hannah Hoban and Mariann Kennison. Both have had monster years; Hoban is slashing .447/.545/.913 with 59 runs batted in and 10 home runs. Kennison is slashing .491/.560/.860 with 34 runs batted in and 8 home runs. “I think I’m having the year I am having because I’m just playing for my teammates and keeping things simple,” Kennison said.   

Kennison has been a huge help in the Lady Lions offense this season and hopes to continue her production in the conference tournament. Rebekah Stegmayer, along with Kennison both broke the regular season record in runs scored. Stegmayer also stole 35 bases while only being thrown out one time. While Kennison and Stegmayer are breaking records now, the future of the team looks good. 

Freshman making the transition into college is always hard, not only with softball but with school as well. “We miss a lot more class now and I have had to adjust my time management to stay caught up,” says freshman Maddy Holloway. 

Having more difficult classes to go along with workouts, conditioning and practice, causes students to miss a lot of class and they must stay on top of all their school work.  

“In high school I always played shortstop but here the coaches told me I will play anywhere so I had to learn new positions and adjust to being thrown in wherever,” said Holloway.  

Most freshman do not start right away but must be ready to go in whenever and do their job. Holloway hopes to land a starting spot in the future. 

Every good team must have a good team chemistry. If your team does not get along with each other than your team most likely will not succeed. “Overall, we have become more of a family than just teammates. We have each other’s back off the field so when we are on the field, the bond just becomes so much stronger. We all know that everyone on the team has confidence in each other. We have learned to just have fun and forget the mistakes,” said senior pitcher Kory Best.  

“This year we have had the talent, heart and the ability to do a lot of things and I couldn’t be prouder in how far this team has come in just one year. This team has truly been special no matter how far we go,” said senior outfielder Haley McCurry. 

The Piedmont College softball team heads to LaGrange tomorrow with hopes of winning the championship and getting a ring.