New Season, New Faces for ICC Softball
ICC is coming off one of the best seasons in team history but will have to replace seven MACJC All-North Division selections, including a pair of NJCAA Region 23 honorees in Courtney Roberts and Haley Moore. The Indians took No. 10 Gulf Coast to the limits before being eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs to finish 32-13 on the season after earning a share of the North Division crown.
New Season, New Faces for ICC Softball
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS - ICC is coming off one of the best seasons in team history but will have to replace seven MACJC All-North Division selections, including a pair of NJCAA Region 23 honorees in Courtney Roberts and Haley Moore. The Indians took No. 10 Gulf Coast to the limits before being eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs to finish 32-13 on the season after earning a share of the North Division crown.
At the Plate
Losing its top three hitters, ICC will look towards sophomore shortstop Kaitlin Bradley (Columbus) to lead the charge at the plate. The New Hope graduate missed 22 of 43 games last season after suffering a broken hand against Mississippi Delta. Bradley hit .458 with 13 RBI and 18 runs scored in 59 plate appearances. Katrina Wilson (Oxford) played in 37 games and eight of her 31 hits went for extra bases, including six doubles and a home run. Behind Wilson's 87 at-bats, Taylor Thornton (Carrollton) brings the second-most experience to the plate with 17 hits and five walks in 66 appearances. She and Bradley each stole 11 bases last season. Sheneria Tyes (Baldwyn) batted .476 with 15 runs scored, a pair of triples and a double. All four sophomores were listed as Top Returning Players in the region by the NJCAA.
In the Circle
Katlin McDuffy (Iuka) led the nation with a sparkling 0.57 ERA and will step out of her role as a closer to anchor a very deep Indian rotation this season. Finishing 4-0 last year, the southpaw had 19 strikeouts and 10 walks in 49.1 innings of work. Cassidy Hardy (Gordo, AL) worked 67 innings and finished 7-3 with 27 strikeouts as a freshman and will look to improve on her 3.34 ERA. ICC added Taylor Cresap (Fulton), Grayson Wells (Greenwood) and Carleigh Mills (Corinth) to its pitching rotation with an impressive 2015 signing class.
Fresh Faces in Fulton
Twelve of the 20 active players on this season's roster are freshmen, making Coach Andy Kirk's squad one of the youngest lineups he's had in his five seasons in Fulton. The NJCAA recognized Mills, utility player Alex Brown (Pontotoc), infielder Mamie Hollenhead (Mathiston) as three of the Top Newcomers in the region. ICC added transfers Taylor Blevins (Columbus) from Meridian and Bree Thompson (Water Valley) from Northwest to help bolster the youthful roster. Utility players Lane Kennedy (Smithville), Addie Thompson (Hamilton) and Mary Kansas Sullivan (Houston) along with outfielders Bre Harford (Southaven) and Maura Jane Autry (Holly Springs) are expected to contribute right away as freshmen.
VIDEO: Coach Andy Kirk talks about the 2016 softball season
New Season, New Twist
This season, each team in the state will play each other in the regular season and play a 28-game league scheduled in 14 doubleheaders with the top eight teams advancing to the postseason play. The Indians will travel to defending MACJC and NJCAA Region 23 champion Gulf Coast, Northeast, Meridian, Coahoma, East Central, Southwest Mississippi and Jones County while hosting Hinds, Northwest, Pearl River, Mississippi Delta, East Mississippi, Holmes and Co-Lin. ICC will open the season against Calhoun (AL) and LSU-Eunice (LA) in the Pearl River Tournament on Saturday, February 6 and Co-Lin in a non-division doubleheader on Sunday, Februrary 7 in Wesson.
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