It is no surprise, the Lady Royal Softball team of JayHigh School is off to another successful start with a current 6-1record and 3-0 in the district. The team made it to the state championship last season and only lost two senior starters to graduation coming into the 2016 season.
While Coach Brian Watson is impressed with how his team has performed on defense and pitching, he would like to see his team improve at bat.
“We are winning a lot of close games early with just pitching and defense,” Watson said. “Hopefully, the bats will come around as it gets warmer.”
In three matchups thus far in the season, the Lady Royals have outscored their opponents by double digits. As of the this edition, the team has not lost a game since the season opener against PaceHigh School.
While the overall goal is to return to state championship, Watson and several of the players said it is essential to keep the winning momentum by focusing on each opponent and, more importantly, their 1A District 3 rivals.
“Every game is a tough game in the district and we have to have a mindset to play well,” Watson said. “Our number one goal is to be the number one seed in district.”
Playing at shortstop, Michaela Stewart said the team is starting to pick up at bat.
“We have been relying on defense a lot lately, but these past few games the bats have been picking up and stepping up. We’ve scored more runs, more RBI’s,” Stewart said.
During her tenure at Jay High School, Stewart said this might be the best defense she has witnessed. Like Coach Watson, Stewart believes the focus should be their district opponents.
“Each district game is going to be a battle. We are going to have to fight and pull through because each team has the capability of coming back in an inning,” she said.
The team’s success could be attributed to their chemistry, which has been built upon over the years.
“We have been playing together for a long time,” said fellow senior classman Samantha Steadham, who plays catcher. “I came up with a lot of these girls. So, it’s a lot of talent and we work well together. I’m not surprised. We should be playing like this.”
In the small town setting like Jay, Destiny Herring said the team grew up with each other and are considered close knit.
“We are like a big family,” Herring said. “We do have our off times, but we are pretty well gelled together.”
Like her teammates, Steadham believes this team has the capability of winning a state championship.
“This year, we are going to go back and finish what we started,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Softball: Jay cruising along with a lengthy win streak