Talented roster fuels Lady Warriors' state playoff aspirations

For the past two months, the White County High School softball team has put in a lot of time on the field and the weight room getting ready for the 2021 season. Now it's time to reap the rewards of all the summer work.

It's Game Day for the Lady Warriors as they kick off the new season this afternoon in Mt. Airy with a matchup against Class AAAAAA Habersham Central. The Lady Warriors open the home schedule Saturday with a doubleheader against Rabun County. WCHS head coach Drew Owens and the squad is hoping the opening week of the season is the start of the best seasons in program history, and with a deep and talented roster, those high expectations appear to be justified.

“Every high school program sets goals, and to be honest, there have been some years where we set goals and they really felt unattainable,” Owens said. “We have a lot of good kids, not just as players, but just good kids, and they are loaded with character. I feel like that is your ticket to winning.”

The Lady Warriors are coming off a 2020 season where they finished third in Region 7-AAA race and earned a spot in the Class AAA playoffs, dropping a first round series to Sonorville.

Seniors Liana O'Kelly, Annika Vandiver, and Reagan Dunagan are back for one last run, and they are joined by a stable full of talented underclassmen. When Owens looks at the 2021 squad, he sees a team with unlimited potential.

“We are, in a lot of areas in our lineup, still going to be very young, but the young kids are very talented,” Owens said. “We have great leadership from our three seniors, but I know we'll go through some growing pains here and there. I think our season will pretty much revolve around pitching and defense, and I think we have an athletic enough team to be able to manufacture some runs if we aren't hitting it very well. As long we stay competitive in the circle and play defense, we'll be alright.”

Heading into the season, there doesn't seem to be a clear cut favorite in the race for the region title, and Owens is expecting his team in be in the hunt.

“The transition to AAA last year was huge for all our teams, and softball is no different,” Owens. “But with softball, when you face teams with an overpowering pitcher, it changes the game. That's going to be the thing with our region this year. We believe we are going to be a lot better this year, but everybody in our region is going to be better too. Cherokee Bluff has a pitcher that is really talented, but she was hurt last year, and she's back this year. North Hall has picked up a couple of young girls that are really good, and Dawson has a pitcher that threw a lot last year as a freshman. Lumpkin is really well coached and they are talented. And who knows about East Forsyth, what will they bring to the table. But regardless, I feel pretty good about where we are at.”

Ultimately, Owens said the goal is to make a deep run in the state playoffs and end up in Columbus as one of the eight teams competing for a state title. The Lady Warriors got a look at some of the top teams in the state during the summer.

“We played Franklin County this summer, and they are absolutely loaded,” Owens said. “We played Rockmart at team camp. They played for the state title game last year and they are loaded again this year. We had Rockmart beat in one game, but made one bad mistake and it cost us. I can tell you this, there is not a kid on our field that is scared to play anybody. That's my favorite part of coaching this group. We want to put them out there and let them excel. It's fun to watch kids who want to be successful.”

Members of the varsity team are Liana O'Kelly, Annika Vandiver, Reagan Dunagan, Katelyn Boman, Kaylie Holbrook, Cree Cantrell, Kate Sartain, Rachel Carter, Gabby Whiddon, Emma Hare, Sarah Grace Partin, Pipa Martin, Yvonne Minutello, and Haley Ramey. Chloe Henslee is the team manager

Members of the junior varsity team are Partin, Martin, Minutello, Ramey, Kayton Eller, Lauren Black, Kiannah Dorsey, Aubrey Bolton, Ginger Lewis, Maddie Hall, Tyla Nix, Logan Fain, and Jordan Warthen. Rylee Dorsey is the JV manager.

Owens believes one of the strenghs of the program is the continuity of the coaching staff. Assistant coaches Jim Waits, Laura Stahl and Rachel Fowler have all been in the staff for at least five years, and play key roles in the development of the program.

“This coaching staff has a lot to do with our success, and all of the coaches care about the kids,” Owens said. “It's a joy to come to the field and work with them. We all have such great relationships. It's more like a family within our coaching staff. Our families know each other well. That's so important to me. We've all been together for five years, and no one has left. In softball, a coaching staff can be like a revolving door. A coach might be here one year and then leave; we haven't had that. Whatever is their job, they just take it and run with it. We've been together for five years and I've never call one of them and asked them to do something and it wasn't done right then. It's good to have people I can lean on constantly. If I ever get thrown out of a game, I would be 100 percent confident that our is team is in good hands."