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With the 2025 softball season about to get in full gear, let's take a look at the five squads in the Bloomington area and the big question each one has heading into the spring.
Also note the new sectional alignments — Class 4A at Terre Haute South: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Martinsville, TH North, TH South; Class 3A at Edgewood: Cascade, Edgewood, Indianapolis George Washington, Northview, Owen Valley, Speedway; Class 2A at Linton: Eastern Greene, Linton, North Knox, South Knox, Sullivan, West Vigo.
COACH — Meg Montgomery, 23rd season. LAST YEAR — 13-8, 3-2 CI.
RETURNING STARTERS — Carly Reed, Jr. 2B; Akasha Burton, Sr. CF; Larkyn Ivey, Jr. SS; Lindsey Blanton, Jr. C; Evie Carpenter, Sr. LF; Abby Purtlebaugh, So. 3B/C; Sloane Barrett, So. RF.
OUTLOOK — Panthers lose their top two pitchers to graduation but bring the bulk of its batting order back. There are only two seniors (Burton and Carpenter) so it's a young group with seven freshmen, but there's still plenty of varsity experience there.
Not so much for the pitching staff, which will be an all-freshman group save for Ivey, who will pick up some innings. Their growth will ultimately determine where the Panthers end up by the end of the year.
Pitching: Freshmen Rachel Johnson, Brilee McGlothlin, Shilo Rockhill, and Perry Murphy will get the call in the circle and how Montgomery will use them is up in the air. It's possible it could be a group effort each night but the goal will be to get them as many innings each as possible between varsity and JV games.
"They'll all see pitching time," Montgomery said. "They're all hitting their spots well. Yes, we have some young pitching, but they've been playing a long time, we've just got to help them adjust to high school softball. But they are coachable and work hard. They all have different looks, different pitches, and different speeds. But they need innings to build confidence, so early on, we'll be figuring out a few things there."
Batting order: The Panthers have a wealth of bats and speed, so they should be able to score in lots of ways whether by power or working station to station, and they should handle themselves well on defense. Scoring runs early will go a long way to help settle in the young staff.
The outfield is set behind Burton, a Huntington commit looking for a strong comeback after injury slowed her last year, in left, Carpenter in left, and sophomore Slone Barrett in right.
They'll cover a lot of ground and get the ball to the right places. On the infield, Reed is back at second with Ivey taking over at shot and All-Stater Purtlebaugh at third and at catcher, sharing the spot with Blanton, who will play a big role in guiding the young arms. Sophomore Taylor Crohn is the new first baseman and Aminah Saahir will fill a utility role. Freshmen Bella Simmons (1B), Savannah Huffman (SS/3B) and Addy Suhr will push for time.
COACH — Kat Edmonds, 2nd year. LAST YEAR — 5-20, 1-4 CI.
RETURNING STARTERS — Molly Klein, Sr. P/SS; Kendyl Fuetz, Sr. P/SS; Kaydence Silvers, Jr. OF; Jillian Parrish, Jr. OF/P; Jocelyn Parrish, Jr. C; Kendon Galligher, Jr. IF; Kinsey Stanley, Sr. OF; Grayson Gill, So. IF; Keylee Taylor, Sr. IF;
OUTLOOK — After just 11 wins combined over the past two seasons, the Cougars are looking to make a big upswing this season. The big problem last year was a young lineup struggling to hit as North averaged just 3.8 runs per game with a meager .221 batting average.
North was just 4-7 while holding teams to five runs or fewer and the Cougars scored five runs or more just seven times, only once in their last 10 games. But with its starting lineup back intact and another year older, that should improve.
"We got a little bit older team. We were young, so I think just that maturity. We spent a lot of the off-season hitting a lot. A lot of reps. That was the biggest thing from last year. We're a team. We're going to show up and play but we're not going to compete unless we score runs."
More: Catch these 22: Here are the top baseball players back in the Bloomington area
Pitching: Both spots are locked down by Klein (Goshen) and Feutz (Thomas More) for the third year in a row so the Cougars will have plenty of experience there. Feutz (3.37 ERA) put in 81 innings last year, fanning 90 while opposing batters hit just .225. But she also walked 43 with 26 wild pitches. Klein (3.46 ERA) walked just 17 with seven WP in 58 innings but also gave up 91 hits. A bit more offense this year could take a lot of pressure off both of them.
Batting order: North has five seniors now and a veteran squad that put in a lot of work with the bats. The Cougars also shuffled the positions a bit. Parrish will catch again and Stanley and Jillian Parrish stayed in the outfield. Galligher got the start at third and junior Madison Maxwell was in left.
Taylor went from third to first, Klein and Feutz occupied second in the opener when they were not pitching and Gill shifted to short. Senior Carly Collier and freshman Savannah Hammond.
COACH — Mick Hammett, 30th season. LAST YEAR — 22-9-1, 9-1 WIC.
RETURNING STARTERS — Ally Bland, Jr. P; Ella Sproul, Jr. SS; Addison Yearby, Jr. 2B; Ava LaRoche, Jr. RF; Jayden Stephens, Jr. C; Olivia McPherson, 1B.
OUTLOOK — The Mustangs, the area's only sectional champs last year, are looking to have another strong season and given the depth of talent in their conference and the new sectional alignment, they'll have to be to get anywhere. Plenty of experience is back, but Madi Bland will sit out the season due to injury and several players will be adjusting to new positions, save for Ally Bland, who returns as the staff ace.
Hammett will be tinkering with lineup and batting order throughout the season to find the best fits when the postseason comes around. "We're going to be a work in progress," he said. "We've got experienced people on most of the infield, but at other positions. We'll have to work into it and do some tooling around and the end result may be different than what we start with. The younger girls will have to get used to the speed of the varsity game. It's much different."
Pitching: Bland has worked on adding another off-speed pitch and a riseball to her repertoire and had a strong summer with her club team. "She bailed us out several times last year," Hammett said. "More time than I want to count. And as the year gets along, she'll get stronger." Briley Moore will get some innings and Hammett is hopeful promising sophomore Kailyr Nichols will be able to pitch as well coming back from a wrist injury.
Batting order: The infield has Sproul moving from first to shortstop, Stephens from third to catcher, Yearby staying at second and McPherson taking over at first base. Ava LaRoche will stay in right field. Sproul will start No. 2 in the order, looking to get back on track offensively after an injury last year. New faces include Lizzy Austin in left field and younger sister Sydney, a sophomore, in center.
Moore will DH. The loss of Madi Bland's means "everybody just needs to do a little bit, like 10% more, to keep us where we're at," Hammett said. An upgraded schedule includes Columbus North, a tourney at Beech Grove, and a trip to last year's 2A state champ Cascade, which was bumped up to 3A.
COACH — Brian Greene, 7th season. LAST YEAR — 14-7, 7-2 WIC.
RETURNING STARTERS —Lucy Dyer, Sr. 1B; Kalyn Greene, Sr. SS; Abree Wells, So. 3B; Anya DeFord, Sr. C; Makynlee Bonds, Jr. 2B; Hayley Amador, So. P.
OUTLOOK — The Patriots turned the corner last year behind a powerhouse senior class that included Louisville signee Taylor Monroe (13 HR) and starting pitcher Abby McDonald, scoring 9.2 runs per game. With all that ammo gone, and a new ace taking over, OV will have to work harder to limit opponent's scoring opportunities.
"For us, it's got to start on defense," Brian Greene said. "We're working hard on it every day. We return a lot of hitters but maybe not as much power, so we've got to replace that collectively. I feel like we're fast and can do some stuff on the bases we've not done as well as I'd like the last few years. So I'm excited about them but it's going to take patience."
More: Softball's back: Here are the top 18 Bloomington area players back for the 2025 season
Pitching: Amador, a three-sport athlete, is the new ace after backing up McDonald last year and will find a spot in the lineup when she's not pitching. "She's throwing harder and mentally, she's in a good spot," Greene said. "She believes in her stuff and the people around her." Junior Mallory Tamplin will move up from JV to give OV some innings as well.
Batting order: Kalyn Greene is the top returning hitter (.474, 12 doubles, 27 RBI) with Dyer also bring back a strong bat (.438) as does Wells (.422) and Bonds (.385, 21 RBI) so there are plenty of potent bats to worry about.
The infield is a veteran group. In the outfield, Sophomore Addy Applegate is the new centerfielder with juniors Claire Paquette and Aliyah White in the mix. Sophomores Chanley Tracey and freshman Brailee Lecocq are also competing for spots with senior Rhiannon Armstrong hoping to help out after recovering from an injury."
COACH — Tommy Bell, 5th season. LAST YEAR — 7-14, 1-6 SWIAC.
RETURNING STARTERS — Ashlynn Bellman, Jr. INF; Addison Ramey, Jr. P/INF; Clara Hawk, Sr. 3B; Chyann Padgett, Sr OF.
OUTLOOK — The T-Birds suffered a 1-7 finish last year and graduation and transfers took a toll on the program leaving just 12 players. Hawk and Padgett are the only two seniors and Ramey is in her third varsity season but there are a lot of new faces and some even new to the game pitching in to give the T-Birds enough numbers to field a team.
"We'll be going through some growing pains and waiting for injuries to heal, so we'll be using the month of April to develop the best starting lineup can," Bell said. "We'll be playing a lot of players in a lot of different positions."
Pitching: Ramey will have to carry the pitching load all by herself early on as the T-Birds await word on whether freshman Charley Paurazas can go this year after showing plenty of promise at the junior high level.
"Addy's been working with her pitching coach for three years and she's got great spin and different pitches," Bell said. "Her velocity's increased and with her knowledge, she'll keep us in a lot of games and keep us competitive. I can't say enough about her but it'll hurt not having a second pitcher. If Charley can pitch, it changes us."
Batting order: Hawk, who will take over at third, led the team in steals the past two seasons and will split time with the track team. Bellman, one of the team's top hitters last year, will handle a middle infield spot, and senior Cheyann Padgett, an Olney Central College basketball commit, will slot into center field. Sophomore Grace Deckard also comes back as a catcher.
Sophomore Makayla Singh has really improved, Bell said, and can play just about any spot. Newcomers include sophomore Brianna Cunningham, out last year for medical reasons, senior Kyler Buskirk back after several years out of the game.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Softball previews: 5 teams and their big question to answer in 2025
Continue reading...
Also note the new sectional alignments — Class 4A at Terre Haute South: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Martinsville, TH North, TH South; Class 3A at Edgewood: Cascade, Edgewood, Indianapolis George Washington, Northview, Owen Valley, Speedway; Class 2A at Linton: Eastern Greene, Linton, North Knox, South Knox, Sullivan, West Vigo.
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How will Bloomington South's pitching sort itself out?
COACH — Meg Montgomery, 23rd season. LAST YEAR — 13-8, 3-2 CI.
RETURNING STARTERS — Carly Reed, Jr. 2B; Akasha Burton, Sr. CF; Larkyn Ivey, Jr. SS; Lindsey Blanton, Jr. C; Evie Carpenter, Sr. LF; Abby Purtlebaugh, So. 3B/C; Sloane Barrett, So. RF.
OUTLOOK — Panthers lose their top two pitchers to graduation but bring the bulk of its batting order back. There are only two seniors (Burton and Carpenter) so it's a young group with seven freshmen, but there's still plenty of varsity experience there.
Not so much for the pitching staff, which will be an all-freshman group save for Ivey, who will pick up some innings. Their growth will ultimately determine where the Panthers end up by the end of the year.
Pitching: Freshmen Rachel Johnson, Brilee McGlothlin, Shilo Rockhill, and Perry Murphy will get the call in the circle and how Montgomery will use them is up in the air. It's possible it could be a group effort each night but the goal will be to get them as many innings each as possible between varsity and JV games.
"They'll all see pitching time," Montgomery said. "They're all hitting their spots well. Yes, we have some young pitching, but they've been playing a long time, we've just got to help them adjust to high school softball. But they are coachable and work hard. They all have different looks, different pitches, and different speeds. But they need innings to build confidence, so early on, we'll be figuring out a few things there."
Batting order: The Panthers have a wealth of bats and speed, so they should be able to score in lots of ways whether by power or working station to station, and they should handle themselves well on defense. Scoring runs early will go a long way to help settle in the young staff.
The outfield is set behind Burton, a Huntington commit looking for a strong comeback after injury slowed her last year, in left, Carpenter in left, and sophomore Slone Barrett in right.
They'll cover a lot of ground and get the ball to the right places. On the infield, Reed is back at second with Ivey taking over at shot and All-Stater Purtlebaugh at third and at catcher, sharing the spot with Blanton, who will play a big role in guiding the young arms. Sophomore Taylor Crohn is the new first baseman and Aminah Saahir will fill a utility role. Freshmen Bella Simmons (1B), Savannah Huffman (SS/3B) and Addy Suhr will push for time.
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Can Bloomington North find some offense?
COACH — Kat Edmonds, 2nd year. LAST YEAR — 5-20, 1-4 CI.
RETURNING STARTERS — Molly Klein, Sr. P/SS; Kendyl Fuetz, Sr. P/SS; Kaydence Silvers, Jr. OF; Jillian Parrish, Jr. OF/P; Jocelyn Parrish, Jr. C; Kendon Galligher, Jr. IF; Kinsey Stanley, Sr. OF; Grayson Gill, So. IF; Keylee Taylor, Sr. IF;
OUTLOOK — After just 11 wins combined over the past two seasons, the Cougars are looking to make a big upswing this season. The big problem last year was a young lineup struggling to hit as North averaged just 3.8 runs per game with a meager .221 batting average.
North was just 4-7 while holding teams to five runs or fewer and the Cougars scored five runs or more just seven times, only once in their last 10 games. But with its starting lineup back intact and another year older, that should improve.
"We got a little bit older team. We were young, so I think just that maturity. We spent a lot of the off-season hitting a lot. A lot of reps. That was the biggest thing from last year. We're a team. We're going to show up and play but we're not going to compete unless we score runs."
More: Catch these 22: Here are the top baseball players back in the Bloomington area
Pitching: Both spots are locked down by Klein (Goshen) and Feutz (Thomas More) for the third year in a row so the Cougars will have plenty of experience there. Feutz (3.37 ERA) put in 81 innings last year, fanning 90 while opposing batters hit just .225. But she also walked 43 with 26 wild pitches. Klein (3.46 ERA) walked just 17 with seven WP in 58 innings but also gave up 91 hits. A bit more offense this year could take a lot of pressure off both of them.
Batting order: North has five seniors now and a veteran squad that put in a lot of work with the bats. The Cougars also shuffled the positions a bit. Parrish will catch again and Stanley and Jillian Parrish stayed in the outfield. Galligher got the start at third and junior Madison Maxwell was in left.
Taylor went from third to first, Klein and Feutz occupied second in the opener when they were not pitching and Gill shifted to short. Senior Carly Collier and freshman Savannah Hammond.
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Can Edgewood make another run?
COACH — Mick Hammett, 30th season. LAST YEAR — 22-9-1, 9-1 WIC.
RETURNING STARTERS — Ally Bland, Jr. P; Ella Sproul, Jr. SS; Addison Yearby, Jr. 2B; Ava LaRoche, Jr. RF; Jayden Stephens, Jr. C; Olivia McPherson, 1B.
OUTLOOK — The Mustangs, the area's only sectional champs last year, are looking to have another strong season and given the depth of talent in their conference and the new sectional alignment, they'll have to be to get anywhere. Plenty of experience is back, but Madi Bland will sit out the season due to injury and several players will be adjusting to new positions, save for Ally Bland, who returns as the staff ace.
Hammett will be tinkering with lineup and batting order throughout the season to find the best fits when the postseason comes around. "We're going to be a work in progress," he said. "We've got experienced people on most of the infield, but at other positions. We'll have to work into it and do some tooling around and the end result may be different than what we start with. The younger girls will have to get used to the speed of the varsity game. It's much different."
Pitching: Bland has worked on adding another off-speed pitch and a riseball to her repertoire and had a strong summer with her club team. "She bailed us out several times last year," Hammett said. "More time than I want to count. And as the year gets along, she'll get stronger." Briley Moore will get some innings and Hammett is hopeful promising sophomore Kailyr Nichols will be able to pitch as well coming back from a wrist injury.
Batting order: The infield has Sproul moving from first to shortstop, Stephens from third to catcher, Yearby staying at second and McPherson taking over at first base. Ava LaRoche will stay in right field. Sproul will start No. 2 in the order, looking to get back on track offensively after an injury last year. New faces include Lizzy Austin in left field and younger sister Sydney, a sophomore, in center.
Moore will DH. The loss of Madi Bland's means "everybody just needs to do a little bit, like 10% more, to keep us where we're at," Hammett said. An upgraded schedule includes Columbus North, a tourney at Beech Grove, and a trip to last year's 2A state champ Cascade, which was bumped up to 3A.
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Can Owen Valley keep it rolling?
COACH — Brian Greene, 7th season. LAST YEAR — 14-7, 7-2 WIC.
RETURNING STARTERS —Lucy Dyer, Sr. 1B; Kalyn Greene, Sr. SS; Abree Wells, So. 3B; Anya DeFord, Sr. C; Makynlee Bonds, Jr. 2B; Hayley Amador, So. P.
OUTLOOK — The Patriots turned the corner last year behind a powerhouse senior class that included Louisville signee Taylor Monroe (13 HR) and starting pitcher Abby McDonald, scoring 9.2 runs per game. With all that ammo gone, and a new ace taking over, OV will have to work harder to limit opponent's scoring opportunities.
"For us, it's got to start on defense," Brian Greene said. "We're working hard on it every day. We return a lot of hitters but maybe not as much power, so we've got to replace that collectively. I feel like we're fast and can do some stuff on the bases we've not done as well as I'd like the last few years. So I'm excited about them but it's going to take patience."
More: Softball's back: Here are the top 18 Bloomington area players back for the 2025 season
Pitching: Amador, a three-sport athlete, is the new ace after backing up McDonald last year and will find a spot in the lineup when she's not pitching. "She's throwing harder and mentally, she's in a good spot," Greene said. "She believes in her stuff and the people around her." Junior Mallory Tamplin will move up from JV to give OV some innings as well.
Batting order: Kalyn Greene is the top returning hitter (.474, 12 doubles, 27 RBI) with Dyer also bring back a strong bat (.438) as does Wells (.422) and Bonds (.385, 21 RBI) so there are plenty of potent bats to worry about.
The infield is a veteran group. In the outfield, Sophomore Addy Applegate is the new centerfielder with juniors Claire Paquette and Aliyah White in the mix. Sophomores Chanley Tracey and freshman Brailee Lecocq are also competing for spots with senior Rhiannon Armstrong hoping to help out after recovering from an injury."
Can veterans carry Eastern Greene's through its rebuild?
COACH — Tommy Bell, 5th season. LAST YEAR — 7-14, 1-6 SWIAC.
RETURNING STARTERS — Ashlynn Bellman, Jr. INF; Addison Ramey, Jr. P/INF; Clara Hawk, Sr. 3B; Chyann Padgett, Sr OF.
OUTLOOK — The T-Birds suffered a 1-7 finish last year and graduation and transfers took a toll on the program leaving just 12 players. Hawk and Padgett are the only two seniors and Ramey is in her third varsity season but there are a lot of new faces and some even new to the game pitching in to give the T-Birds enough numbers to field a team.
"We'll be going through some growing pains and waiting for injuries to heal, so we'll be using the month of April to develop the best starting lineup can," Bell said. "We'll be playing a lot of players in a lot of different positions."
Pitching: Ramey will have to carry the pitching load all by herself early on as the T-Birds await word on whether freshman Charley Paurazas can go this year after showing plenty of promise at the junior high level.
"Addy's been working with her pitching coach for three years and she's got great spin and different pitches," Bell said. "Her velocity's increased and with her knowledge, she'll keep us in a lot of games and keep us competitive. I can't say enough about her but it'll hurt not having a second pitcher. If Charley can pitch, it changes us."
Batting order: Hawk, who will take over at third, led the team in steals the past two seasons and will split time with the track team. Bellman, one of the team's top hitters last year, will handle a middle infield spot, and senior Cheyann Padgett, an Olney Central College basketball commit, will slot into center field. Sophomore Grace Deckard also comes back as a catcher.
Sophomore Makayla Singh has really improved, Bell said, and can play just about any spot. Newcomers include sophomore Brianna Cunningham, out last year for medical reasons, senior Kyler Buskirk back after several years out of the game.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Softball previews: 5 teams and their big question to answer in 2025
Continue reading...
