The Katahdin Cougars have a new head coach as Dillon Kingsbury has taken over the program from Harry Doughty. Katahdin finished 5-10 last year and missed out on the playoffs.
“We are very senior and junior loaded,” said coach Kingsbury. “We’ll rely on this experience greatly in the early going until our underclassmen get a few games under their belts. I see good leadership in the early going from our seniors.”
The Katahdin roster includes seniors Courtney Stevens (pitcher/infield), Kaycee Cintron (pitcher/infield), Sophie Vetter (infield) and Molly Cunningham (infield); juniors Kendra Patterson (outfield), Georgia Landry (infield), Bailey Moody-Kay (outfield) and Kelsey Hamm (catcher); sophomores Hannah Drew (catcher/outfield), Leanne Fitzpatrick (utility) and Brianna Kaelin (outfield); and freshmen Erin Lake (catcher/outfield), Josie Brownlee (utility), Lindsay Drew (utility) and Haley Landry (outfield).
The Cougars key loss to graduation was pitcher Michelle Birmingham.
Coach Kingsbury expects big things from Cintron, Cunningham and Stevens this year as the seniors will be relied on to provide key veteran leadership both inside the pitching circle and at the plate.
One of the areas the coach hopes to address as the season progresses is improving the team’s softball intelligence, so that they know what to do when situations arise.
“We’d like to finish at .500 or better at least beating our opponents one time each,” the coach said. “We’re still currently in the gym and haven’t made it on the field, but it looks like the weather will get us out on the field much earlier than previous seasons.”
The managers are Hannah Kyllonen and Cheyenne Unterreiner.
Katahdin opens its season Wednesday, April 20 at Stearns at 1 p.m.
