Spring sports are beginning to ramp up and the DCHS Tigerette Softball Team is ready to hit the field running. The team has been working hard in the preseason and is striving to regain their spot as top in the district.

Head Coach Danny Fish told the Smithville Review that the team is looking strong. "We've worked really hard for the past couple of weeks of the preseason. We've got five or six kids that play both basketball and softball, so we've got a few that are trying to catch up, but we've got a lot of depth this year. Overall the team speed is good. We've got average to plus average arms. We're going to have a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the field, so we'll probably have some growing pains early, but hopefully, by the end of the year, we'll be right where we want to be."

While the team is young, Coach Fish said they will be relying on their three seniors for leadership, as well as some other experienced players. "We're going to lean on our three seniors, Kenzie France, Megan Walker, and Emme Colwell. Kenzie's going to Cumberland University on a full ride, Megan's going to Trevecca on a full ride, and Emme's been a cornerstone for both of our programs here at DeKalb. We're going to lean a lot on them. They're the meat of the order too at three, four and five. Also, Jacey Hatfield, she's a sophomore, she had a great freshman campaign last year. She'll be lining up at short for us, and hopefully she can improve on her freshman year."

Coach Fish continued, "We're looking for Ellie Cripps, she's a junior this year, to have a better year than she did last year. She's an upperclassman now so hopefully she got her growing pains out of the way last year as a sophomore. Kennedy Polk played a lot as a freshmen behind the plate, so we're looking for her to be a little better this year offensively. Defensively she was very good. There's going to be a lot of freshmen and sophomores in the mix this year."

While the team finished strong last year, Coach Fish said the team feels like they have unfinished business. "Last year we finished second and got beat in the regional semi's, but last year we were going for six straight district championships and six straight regional championships. Our kids kind of got sour milk there at the end of last season. We keep thinking about that moment and how we thought we underperformed last year. There was a lot of growth last year, but still we thought we should have played a little bit better at the times we needed to. Some of the kids that's coming back still remember that, and they've worked really hard in the off season having that out in front of them. They don't want that to happen again. We're just hoping we can have a lot of team chemistry between us and play well during the games. If practice is any indication, I think we're going to be pretty decent."

According to Coach Fish this year's schedule will be a tough one, and they will be competing in several tournaments. "Our schedule is going to be pretty tough. We open up next week at York on the road, then Watertown, then we'll be in the Gordonsville tournament, where we get Kingston, Sale Creek and Whitwell. Three really good teams."

"The other tournament we have is the Southern Warrior Classic, which is at Riverdale. There'll be 80 something teams there, playing at all different sites. We're actually playing at Starplex for all four of our games. We're playing two on a Friday, then two on Saturday. One of our last tournaments will be the Coffee County Classic, which is really pretty tough at the end of the year."

The team will also be playing some 3-A teams along with a strong district lineup. "We have Cookeville on the schedule again. We have White County on the schedule. Some 3-A teams, and our district is going to be pretty tough too."

As far as home games, Coach Fish said the hometown crowd is always supportive. "We pack it out here," Fish told the Review. "We pack it out so much that we've tried to do some improvements to the facilities so we can seat more. Something that's coming in the future. We still have the in and out, 100 to 150 people coming to the games, especially the big games. We just keep rolling."

"Coach Danny Bond set this in motion a long time ago, and we're just trying to continue the success the past Tigerettes have had. We want you to be here. Our first home opener is March 17 against Livingston. All of our games are starting at 5:00 pm this year. We pushed the time back a bit to give people time to get off work and get here. Don't worry about getting anything to eat. You can eat here at our concession stand and come out and watch these girls play. They've worked hard real hard this off season."