Norwood, Hartville softball teams ready for fall season

Both the Norwood Lady Pirates’ and Hartville Lady Eagles’ softball teams are both ready to defend their district championships that both won last fall.
Norwood
The Norwood Lady Pirates’ softball team are entering a new era after coaches Lori and Kevin Drake retired at the end of the spring season. During an eight-year span, the Lady Pirates made one Final Four appearance while winning five Summit Conference and four district tournament titles.
Taking over the coaching reigns is Cole Garnette, who brings to the district 13 years of coaching and teaching experience.
Garnette was an assistant at Dora in softball for six years, where he helped the Lady Falcons to a pair of district finals appearances. He also has more than 100 wins in basketball along with two district crowns and one quarterfinals appearance. Outside of high school sports, he is a real estate agent for Iron Gate Real Estate.
Coach Garnette enters this fall season with four seniors who helped the Lady Pirates win a district crown a season ago before falling to eventual state champion St. Elizabeth in the Class 1 quarterfinals. The squad was 11-2 this past spring to share the conference title.
The seniors are Jayden Chambers (catcher), Maddie Campbell (pitcher), Lydia Harden (OF) and Gentry Davault (1B).
There are just 10 total players on the roster. The others include Reagan Bennett (2B), Jaycee Hall (SS), Addison Smith (3B), Mayci Calhoun (OF), Jamison Williams (OF) and Katherine Jones (OF).
Campbell is the anchor of the pitching staff and is the workhorse for this year’s Lady Pirates.
Offensively, Coach Garnette expects his lineup to be aggressive both at the plate and on the bases.
As for the defense, there is a goal of keeping the extra base hits and errors that allow extra bases and runs to a minimum.
Norwood will open their season in the Halfway Tournament on Aug. 30.
They play their first home game Sep. 2 against Hillcrest at 4:30 p.m.
Hartville
There is a buzz surrounding the Hartville Lady Eagles’ softball team as they enter this fall season with seven returning starters from last year’s district championship squad.
That team advanced to the state quarterfinals and followed up the fall by going 10-1 in the spring while bringing home a Summit Conference crown.
Head Coach Jeff Palmer, who has coached many of the players since they were in T-ball, said the big challenge is the program finding a way to take the next step.
“Winning a district title was nice, but getting to a Final Four is a whole other step,” Coach Palmer noted.
Four-year starter Brielle Kline returns as the catcher who will be the anchor in the middle of the line-up. She led the team in home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage last fall.
Sarah Palmer (3B), McKenzi Stigall (CF), Maddie Brown (SS), Haddie Ward (2B) and Peyton  Dudley (LF) are juniors bringing a lot of experience back to the Lady Eagles. Palmer will hit in the middle of the order and Stigall will be in the lead-off spot.
Sophomore Saige Petty will take over the pitching duties this fall after she and Palmer had a solid spring filling in for injured pitcher Ella Fairchild. Freshmen Gensen Culver, Danica Flachsmann and Kenzi Dugger are also expected to be battling for spots in the lineup.
Hartville opens their season playing in the 31st Annual Morrisville Tournament Aug. 29-30.
Their first home game will be on Sep. 11 against rival Norwood at 4:30 p.m.