Fresh off its first conference title in over 40 years, Beachwood’s softball program is trending up despite the graduation loss of several starters.
The Bison, who finished 11-7 overall and 7-1 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division, return four starters and a host of other varsity letter winners.
“We have numbers in the program for a second year in a row,” said Beachwood coach Mike Coreno. “Several players played in the offseason which hopefully will help us be competitive. We want to compete again for the league title.”
While the Bison have plenty of holes to fill, they do return Ari Preston in the circle for the fourth straight season.
Preston earned first-team All-CVC honors last spring.
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“Ari is our most versatile player as she can pitch and play multiple positions in the infield,” Coreno said.
Junior Chengyu Li and sophomore Ela Sasmaz will provide depth in the circle.
When they aren’t pitching, Li will play left field and Sasmaz will play first base.
Sophomore Mattie Spaller will catch, junior Rachel Wolf and freshman Lily Grover have the middle infield positions locked up with Wolf at second and Grover at short. Sophomore Sawyer Borland is projected to start at third base.
Sophomore Allie Rindsberg is slotted in center field and junior Kelsey Cohen will serve as the team’s designated player.
“We have some newcomers at key positions that do not have a lot of varsity experience,” Coreno said. “We will continue to work hard in practice and early games to hopefully catch them up.”
The Bison will lean on Preston in the circle, and at the plate, to keep the Bison in games, especially early in the season as the younger players find their way.
“We need a lot of young players to step up offensively as we graduated four of our top hitters,” Coreno said.
