Nine players return to Lady Trojan lineup
<p>Shortstop Aurora Becquart puts the tag on Jena Peterson for the third out top of third first of a doubleheader vs. Plains March 27, 2015.</p>
Of the 11 girls who finished the season for the Lady Trojans softball team, nine are returning to play this year. Adding in the nine new faces, the team will field 18 players and coach Keith Haggerty is hoping this is the beginning of an upward trend for his program.
“Everybody’s working hard,” he said. “We have a lot of new kids on the team. Last year we started with 14 and ended with 11. This year we started with 18 and everybody is working hard. Everybody is fitting in and getting together, we expect to keep working and get better.”
The last season got off to a rocky start for the Lady Trojans, but things were starting to come together at the end. Haggerty said he wants to build on that momentum and see how far it takes this year’s crop of girls.
As a case in point, he referenced the squad’s early games with Deer Lodge. The Lady Trojans were shelled by the Lady Wardens in an early season doubleheader, both games called early due to the large run differential in favor of Deer Lodge. At the end of the season the Lady Trojans faced the Lady Wardens in a play-in game for the tournament and kept pace until the seventh inning, when small mistakes cost them the game.
“That was a game we should have won,” Haggerty said. “We could have won it, our girls know they could have won it but we let it get away from us.”
The Lady Trojans open today with a non-conference doubleheader at home against Bonners Ferry. Their conference schedule begins April 2 with a trip to St. Ignatius to battle Deer Lodge and Mission.
Haggerty said the season should be an exciting one.
“They’re working hard,” he said. “We should see some really good improvements. We’re going to make the people of Troy proud.”