Sparrows Point Softball Gearing Up for New Season

Sparrows Point's softball enters the 2016 season on the back of a tremendously successful 2015 campaign.

The Pointers finished with an 18-3 record last year, including a 3-1 win over McDonough to win the MPSSAA 1A North championship. In its following game, Sparrows Point beat Colonel Richardson 5-4 to earn a berth to the 1A state championship.

The team squared off with Manchester Valley, which was a rematch of the 2014 state final.

"We lost to a very good Manchester Valley team and Redz Peterson, our ace senior pitcher with a .80 ERA, was hit by a pitch in the second inning requiring seven stitches in the thumb of her pitching hand," head coach Duke Vickery said. "It was a disappointing ending to an otherwise great season."

Heading into this season, Sparrows Point must now rely on some players who are untested at the varsity level. The team lost five players from last year's team who were four year varsity players.

Despite losing quite a bit of talent, Vickery prefers to focus on the large amount of players the team still has. The Pointers return second team all-Baltimore County shortstop Emily Dutton, who batted .482 last season, had an on base percentage of .592 and cranked eight home runs.

Joining Dutton, the Pointers will have catcher Hannah Auvil behind the dish again this season, who batted .414 with 25 RBI's and six home runs last season. Jessica Miller is also expected to be a key contributor after swatting three triples and having a .345 batting average.

While Sparrows Point will undoubtedly miss its seniors from last season, Vickery is excited about having some new players on the roster.

"Our strengths will be a blend of returning and new players that are working together as a team already," Vickery said.

It's important that the team is gelling together quickly because the Pointers have the toughest schedule Vickery can recall during his time at Sparrows Point. Indeed, Sparrows Point does have an impressive array of opponents from Baltimore County, with teams like Eastern Tech, Lansdowne and Perry Hall sticking out as particularly tricky adversaries.

The tough array of opponents on its schedule should pay dividends for Sparrows Point by the end of the season. The team should be battle tested and prepared for another deep postseason run come playoff time.

"My goals this year are to prepare the team for the state playoffs, using each contest as a learning tool for improvement," Vickery said.