MARS HILL, Maine — Ryan Guerrette has a very respectable track record entering his fourth season as coach of the Central Aroostook Panthers’ varsity softball team.
The team had an overall record of 39-12 entering the campaign, making it into the playoffs each year as one of the top four teams in Eastern Maine Class D.
The Panthers face the biggest challenge of Guerrette’s tenure with only two seniors on the team and two players filling in the same position they did a year ago.
“It’s going to be a year of transition and our success will depend on how well the players respond to their new positions and how well we pitch,” Guerrette said.
Senior Megan King was the “designated player” in 2013, but moves to the field in the key role as starting catcher. She is a tremendous hitter, as evidenced by her .533 batting average last season. She had two home runs, 11 doubles, 41 RBI and 27 runs scored.
Junior Whitnie Bradbury played center field last year, but moves to shortstop. She batted. 388 as a sophomore, scoring 29 runs and stealing 23 bases.
Karli Levesque, a sophomore, will be back to do a bulk of the pitching and will play center field when not on the mound. She held a .415 batting average last season, scoring 27 runs and swiping 19 bases. She is the team’s lead-off hitter and has worked on her offensive game throughout the preseason and is primed for a great year at the plate.
Sophomore third baseman Sheratin Kelly also had some nice stats from 2013, batting .396 on the season. She is a very patient hitter who draws numerous walks and will bat out of the clean-up slot in the lineup.
Carly Grass, a junior, will again share mound duties with Levesque and will otherwise play second base. She batted .429 in limited duty as a sophomore.
Others looking to crack the starting lineup are senior first baseman Stephanie Dame, sophomore right fielder Delaney Grass, junior left fielder Bailee Durost, freshman second baseman/center fielder Kelsey Dominique and junior designated player Jordan Canney.
Junior Mayra Gonzalez will help provide depth for the Panthers, while Dayna McCrum is the manager and Rachael Grew and Kristen Long, former Panther players under Guerrette, are serving as his assistant coaches.
“Offensively we will look to be aggressive on the bases,” Guerrette said. “We aren’t a team that is full of power hitters, so we will need to play some ‘small ball’ to make things happen.”
Guerrette is counting on Levesque and Carly Grass to help make pitching a strength of this year’s unit. Last year, Levesque went 7-0 with 32 strikeouts in 53-2/3 innings of work, while Grass went 5-5 over 55-1/3 innings and fanned 38 batters.
“We have two pitchers that have had success at the varsity level and we will definitely ride the hot hand though. If one of the two is throwing really well, we will stick with them,” Guerrette said.
“Both Karli and Carly complement one another well. Karli throws hard and looks to move the ball up and down in the strike zone, while Carly relies on her control to get outs,” he added.
