The Piedmont Wildcats are back to defend a state championship in fast pitch softball this fall.
And they are a team with just one senior on the quest to try to repeat, as long as things out of their control don’t happen along the way.
Tonight the Wildcats take on the Noble Bears at home at 6 p.m. in what is expected to be a close game. Masks are required for all spectators in attendance.
In a season altered by COVID-19, the team has only had a few games canceled. Only two players have had to be quarantined due to exposures to COVID-19.
And Coach Keith Coleman is hoping nothing else is canceled ahead.
Coleman won his second state championship last year. He took the coaching job in Piedmont in fall, 2016. He had coached the 2009 Muskogee High School team to a 6A state slow pitch softball championship.
With a record of 19-4 this year in Piedmont, and leading their district, there were four games ahead before a chance to host regionals in October.
“Knock on wood, but we’ve been pretty fortunate, to play as many games as we have,” Coleman said.
The state championship team graduated 14 seniors.
One player is back from the team, sophomore Karissa Fiegener, a shortstop.
“So obviously we are extremely young this year. Some days we start six or seven freshmen and two or three sophomores, with just one senior in the entire program,” Coleman said.
“The strength of our team is our kids are phenomenal character kids. They work extremely hard and they are extremely coachable,” Coleman said.
The team has developed each game, he said.
“We felt like we would struggle early and get better as we went. And that is exactly what happened. We are so much better as a team now then we were in the beginning of August. We have high expectations, and our kids know that if you are in our program we expect you to play hard and do things right. It is good because all of our kids have been in our program from middle school and high school now,” Coleman said.
Without many returning players, there were doubts about the season from others, he said.
“Many people thought the team would be down this year, but the staff and I felt comfortable that we would be better this year than we were in 2016 mainly because our kids know our program and are in a year-round weight program, Summer Pride.”
“Our kids are tough. They are tough kids and we have an administration who lets us coach them the right way and parents who let us coach their kids. You have to have kids willing to work and admins and parents who let you work and we are very fortunate in Piedmont that we have all that,” Coleman said.
He had high praise for the lone senior Teagan Honer who plays first base, second base, third base, and is a true utility player.
“Teagan is having a great year. I am proud of Teagan this year. It is a testament to her that she has done it the right way and she is reaping the rewards of that.”
She bats in the middle of the lineup with a batting average of .350.
The year has been different than any other, he said.
“The COVID-19 stuff has definitely changed the way we have had to do a lot of things, masks are the norm now, and temperature checks are the norm now. “
The team had two players quarantined who did not have symptoms, but had been exposed to someone who tested positive.
“It is a bummer for them and a bummer for the program, but the health and welfare of our team is the most important thing,” Coleman said.
“We are just crossing our fingers that something doesn’t happen that puts our team in jeopardy of not being in the post season. So much of it is out of our control,” Coleman said.
A few injuries have also plagued the team this year as well he said.
The team travels to Guymon 3 p.m. Saturday and Monday they play at El Reno at 6 p.m. They will play at Purcell 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1.
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