(Oakland) Riverside softball will have a much different look to it than it has in the last couple of seasons.
Coach Chris Conover’s roster has had a lot of turnover. “This year is definitely going to be a rebuilding year for us. Numbers are a little bit lower than we like. Basically our team is going to be made up of mainly freshmen and eighth graders with a few sophomores and a couple of seniors sprinkled in.” Conover says Maddie and Morgan Heiny will be the senior leaders. “I’m looking for them to really step up. Their leadership is going to be really important as we help to develop these younger players.
The Lady Dawgs won a conference title two years ago and finished 17-13 last year, but now feature a roster where sophomores Mica Welch, Elyssa Amdor, and Addison Feuring are the longest tenured players in the program. A couple of freshman will be big contributors. “We have a couple of girls that really showed a lot of promise last year. Elly Henderson, an all-conference outfielder as an 8th grader, looking to see if she can take that next step as a centerfielder and control the outfield. Ayla Richardson is going to pitch. She’s a freshman and she threw some really nice JV innings and got a couple of varsity wins last year. She’s going to need to step up and carry the load. That’s a lot to ask of a freshman to do. She’s talented enough and I think by the end of the season she could be one of the better young pitchers in Southwest Iowa.”
Riverside starts the season on Monday at Missouri Valley.
