Imagine coming off your best season in decades, having six seniors graduate, yet your star pitcher returns for her junior season. That’s the makeup of the Mehlville girls softball team as they look to improve on last year’s record of 17-7 with junior Lily Douglas in the circle as the team’s starting pitcher.
“We lost six seniors from last year,” Mehlville head coach Tim Ode said. “But any time you can run Lilly Douglas out there in the circle, you can pretty much get a win against anybody in the area.”
Douglas was stellar as a sophomore last season as she went 17-7 overall with a 1.47 earned run average. At the plate, she was just as effective with a .361 batting average with three doubles, two triples, one home run, nine runs batted in (RBI) and 15 stolen bases.
“Last year, Lily really came into her own,” Ode said. “She’s now become a vocal leader with a lot of moxie.”
Another junior to keep an eye on in 2023 is third baseman Rylie Harper, who batted a solid .323 with four doubles, one triple and 12 RBIs. Harper will be relied on heavily this season after Claire Parish will spend the season off the roster due to an ankle surgery.
“Rylie’s been at third base for us since her freshman year,” Ode said. “She’s really going to have to step up this year and be a leader for us from third base. We’re going to need to have her step up at the plate for us too this season.”
Junior Morgan Ulrich will once again be behind the plate this year as catcher after batting .319 with 14 RBIs and seven stolen bases as a sophomore.
“I think that a lot of people forget how important it is to have a good catcher in the lineup and the Cardinals are seeing that now,” Ode said. “We’ll be moving her to the top of the lineup as we’re hoping to get her on base more this season.”
In the outfield for the Panthers this season is junior Nichole Goebel who batted .250 with one triple and five RBIs.
“Nichole has been mostly a reserve player for us in the past,” Ode said. “We’re going to be leaning on her pretty heavily this season in the outfield.”