The bar is set high for Northside softball. The Lady Panthers went undefeated in 1-A Coastal Plains conference action and took a trip to the eastern regional finals.

They lost four seniors that were pivotal to that success: Alex Adams, Taonya Stanley, Kelsey Lang and Ashley Paszt. They do, however, have four seniors that now know what it takes to make a run at a state championship. Kendall Alligood, Quortasia Clark, Mackensi Swain and Mariah Stanley will all hope to build on what they accomplished last year before their high school careers come to a close.

Northside traveled to Washington to play in the Bobby Andrews Scholarship Fund scrimmage on Friday. It was an important preseason experience as the Lady Panthers prepare to open the season this week.

Here’s what coach Riley Youmans had to say ahead of the 2016 campaign.

 

On what the team lost from last year:

“We lost four seniors, but three are going to be hard to replace. … Trying to replace those girls is going to be tough to do. We can fill some spots, but we can’t replace them. That’s for sure. I think the girls did fairly well (Friday). … We’ve got some work to do. We were runners up in the regional last year and we hope to get there again. It’s going to take a lot of practice, hard work and commitment.”

 

On filling those voids:

“We’ve got (sophomore) Rebekah Williams playing shortstop. I think she did a fairly good job (Friday). (Sophomore) Savannah Slade did a good job. Filling them is one thing and replacing them is another. They’re young. They’ll get the experience they need and they’ll come along just fine I’m sure.”

 

On what he wants to improve on before the regular season:

“We made some mistakes on the bases. Obviously, we haven’t been able to get in the cages and hit or on the field and hit live. The hitting and the batting are definitely going to be the things we work on mostly in the next few weeks.”

 

On whether there’s pressure after last year’s accomplishments:

“Absolutely. That’s always going to be the case when you make it so far in the playoffs. It’s a lot of pressure and a lot of competition when you do get in the playoffs. You’re going to see strong teams.

“I feel like this team can handle it. We’ve got a lot of veterans stepping up and helping the younger girls come around. I think we’ll do fine this year.”

 

On the team’s strengths entering the season:

“Rachel Lang is going to be our ace. She threw really well (Friday). We’ve got some veteran hitters that can step up to the plate and really hit the ball well. That’s going to be our strong point: hitting and pitching.”