Softball team drops first two games
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
When East Troy High School softball coach Greg Prince looks at his 2016 roster, he sees plenty of familiar faces.
But he also knows the Trojans remain a bit young and inexperienced – and with plenty of room to grow.
What that means in terms of wins and losses remains to be seen, but one thing is certain, the eighth-year head coach fully expects his charges to be a competitive bunch this spring.
East Troy returns a trio of seniors – Vanessa Dingman (infield), Chloe Jakscht (infield) and Hunter Scheel (first base) – who will be expected to anchor things as the season moves along.
“We have a number of starters and players with experience returning this year, but we are still really green and young,” Prince said. “We will be very competitive, I believe, but the conference is pretty good this year.
“I believe we have the opportunity to be in the top half of the conference if things work out right for us.”
As normally is the case with softball, how far the Trojans go this year likely will depend on both pitching and finding consistent offensive up and down the lineup, Prince said.
“The top half of our batting order has a number of proven hitters, but the bottom half is still a bit of an unknown,” he said. “Our two best pitchers are a freshman and a sophomore, so how well they adjust to pitching at the varsity level will be key for us.”
Joining the senior trio on the roster are juniors Kelly Griffa (outfield), Maria Kulick (second base-outfield), Maria Longstreet (outfield) and Kaitlyn O’Connell (catcher); sophomores Samantha Donohue (pitcher-infield) and Victoria Pott (outfield); and freshmen Sophia Helmos (pitcher-infield) and Erin Rice (outfield-catcher).
The seniors and O’Connell, who Prince said also has shown leadership so far, will be counted on heavily to lead the way.
“I expect them to be good leaders through example and encouragement, as well as their attitude,” he said.
Prince, who is assisted by Jodi Kostuchowski and Jim Schubert, said the Rock Valley Conference North race appears to be a battle between McFarland, Evansville, Edgerton and Whitewater. In the South, he expects the top teams to be Beloit Turner, Parkview and Brodhead.
As for where the Trojans fit in?
“Our conference goals are to finish in the top half and be better at the end (of the season) than we were at the beginning,” he said. “Due to our youth in a number of spots, I think that would be a worthy accomplishment.”
Trojans fall twice
East Troy dropped its first two games of the season, including a 17-12 slugfest Monday to visiting Beloit Turner. The Trojans opened play last week with another offensive battle, a 17-8 nonconference loss to Williams Bay.
