Mid-Ohio Valley Spring Sports 2026: Ritchie County softball team has high hopes
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ELLENBORO -- Ritchie County softball coach Dave Mossor feels he has the pitcher to do it. And the position players to do it. Now it's a matter of putting the season into motion.
Junior Rocklyn Marcum returns as the Rebels' ace. Last season, she struck out nearly twice as many batters as innings pitched with an earned-run average below 2 ½.
"We need Rocklyn to be healthy - that's why we will or will not make it to state," Mossor said.
The offense isn't too shabby, either. Three of Ritchie's infielders (junior Chelsey Jeffrey at shortstop, junior Ava Satterfield at this base and senior Rindy Perkins at first base) all hit above .350.
"Offensively, I think we are one of 'those-look-out' teams," Mossor said. "Defensively, we have a couple of spots we need to move around."
Mossor has several individuals at his disposal to utilize in the outfield, including sophomores Olivia Blizard, Abbigayl Cox, junior Alisha Lewis, and seniors Emily Bush and Emilee Winning.
Headlining the newcomers is freshman Cassie Hardbarger, who received the starting nod at catcher.
"Alisha is going to be a good one," Mossor said. "I knew she could catch, so I thought I would put her in and try her out. She popped right in."
The one issue working against softball in the spring reverted to the basketball season where the Ritchie County girls qualified for the state tournament. Five members from that squad also play softball.
Unfortunately, the weather did not coordinate and between the snow and frigid temperatures the Rebels' softball team did not have all members in attendance for an outside practice prior to their first regular season game.
Mossor mentioned Marcum is not necessarily a pitcher who is at her best during cold weather, so his team may not show its true colors until the warmer weather arrives
One bonus going in Ritchie County's favor is a new indoor batting cage located behind the home dugout. The facility is large enough for two individuals to take batting practice on each side of the room at the same time.
"We need a lot of practice, but we will hit everybody," said Mossor, who enters his 47th season coaching softball.
BASEBALL
Grooming for the future will be a constant theme as the Ritchie County baseball program works through the current season.
"We have 14 sophomores and freshmen with four seniors and no juniors - we are basically a JV team," Ritchie County's Danny Vanoy, who enters his 17th season as head coach at Ritchie. "They all played American Legion ball and really improved over the summer. It will be a developmental year all year, work out the kinks then try to make a run if we can in the postseason."
Senior Brayson Hayes, who did not pitch his sophomore year while rehabbing from a shoulder injury, figures to the ace of the staff.
"All four of my seniors are providing that leadership and nurturing the younger guys," Vanoy said. "Turner Shriver and Brayson Hays are such positive leaders - they lead by example and have been instrumental in developing the younger guys."
Several underclassmen who have shown the Rebel coaching staff the ability to contribute immediately including sophomores Teagan Backus, Joey Dalrymple, Hunter McCray, Zach Hartness and Blake Rowan and Logan Martin.
Backus is athletic and can play both catcher and shortstop as well as pitch. Dalrymple is the consummate swiss-army knife and fills in at any position. McCray transferred in from Wirt County and figures to plug in at various holes.
Hartness is an antelope and covers plenty of acreage in center field, while giving coach Vanoy options as a utility player. In addition to pitching, Rowan plays the infield. Marin didn't play as a freshman, but has shown promise as a pitcher who throws strikes.
"These guys are really coachable," Vanoy said. "We are trying to create a positive culture. The game of baseball is about surviving mistakes.
"They are making adjustments and responding to stuff well. I really like this team. It's just that we are young. We will get there. We will have growing pains right now, but the future looks bright."
After splitting two scrimmage games, Ritchie opened the season 0-3. "Our biggest problem is giving too many free passes,"Vanoy said. "You mix in a few hits and it just snowballs."
GIRLS TRACK
Ritchie County girls track coach Lindsey Garrett hopes quantity equates to quality as she enters her fifth season with the Rebels.
Assistant coach Terry Williams played a major role in his quest to recruit student-athletes within the high school building and making a pitch to the incoming freshmen.
"Terry did a fantastic job recruiting at the high school and picking up all kinds of girls," Garrett said. "He actually has a running club he does in the offseason called the Pacerunner Running Club and gets a lot of good athletes training and conditioning for other sports."
The strength for Ritchie County's girls team included distance runner Bentlee Williams along with the throwers. Last year at the state meet, Williams placed second in the 3200 and third in the 1600.
Junior Natalie Henger seeks to defend her Class A title in the discus and is joined by Morgan Morris and Mattie Brown who both qualified for the state meet in the throws.
The Rebels finished ninth as a team.
"Overall, I was pleased with the season," Garrett said. "We had a lot of new athletes, so finishing where we did was exciting. We had returning letterwinners, but our team was still green. We look forward to building off that over the next couple of years."
Ritchie had one meet under their belt after hosting seven schools on Tuesday, March 24.
"This year's freshman class is bigger than normal - we have a lot of newcomers overall," Garrett said. "Things we are trying to clean up are handoffs, block starts, pace of the run especially when it comes to longer runs because none of them have ever done it before," Garrett said.
BOYS TRACK
Not all the questions resulted in answers, but the Ritchie County boys track program shored up several areas which were left unanswered prior to the season-opening meet on Tuesday, March 24.
"We don't do a lot of timing stuff in practice so we were able to get kids into individual races and see how they would compete," said Rick Haught, who has coached high school track 35-plus years at RItchie.. "Blake Sees ran really well in 800 and 1600, and ran a solid 400. He has done a really good job putting in the work during the winter and is in a good spot now.
"Kellen Cress was the sixth man on the basketball team - by the end of the year he will probably be our highest point scorer just because of the work he did over the winter."
Jenner Keen placed eighth in the high jump at the state meet last year, while four of the five relays also placed in the top 8.
Across the board, the relays return three of four runners. The incoming freshman class could possibly fill those gaps.
"We have a nice group of freshmen who were successful at the middle school level," Haught said. "Noah Shoemaker is a really good hurdler and Ashton Byrd is an important addition to our relays and shorter events.
"Sophomore Jenner Keen had a nice cross country season last fall and should help us in the distance events."
Brayden Watson, Isaiah Poole and Carter Satterfield all finished among the top 9 in the pole vault, while Chase Morris was a double-medalist after placing runner-up in the shot put and sixth in the discus.
"We were solid at our first meet - once we get into our season, we will be in better shape," Haught said.
Haught retired from teaching last spring, but continues to be heavily involved in the track season.
"I still have a better feel for the kids in the building - that might change as each year passes," Haught added.
Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com