Spring is finally here in Kentucky, which means the beginning of a promising new season for many sports teams: track, lacrosse, baseball and softball. Of all the spring sports teams at Dunbar, softball is the only one to have won a district title in 2015. Coming off this win will provide the softball team with lots of momentum to kick off the new season.

Dunbar’s softball team has been crowned district champions nine times in the past 16 years and district runner-ups 7 times. The team plans on adding another district and region title in 2016 and have been working all winter to achieve this goal. According to sophomore Brooke Hill, who has already committed to play at Brigham Young University in 2019, the team has been “conditioning since September,” making them “closer as a team and [giving them] an edge over other teams in the district that don’t do offseason programs.”

Although this year’s roster doesn’t boast any seniors, the team is not to be underestimated. They have several underclassmen and even eighth graders who will bring a lot to the program, including eighth graders Melisa Nelson and Yanna Marrow, and freshman Erica Vain. When asked about the upperclassmen leaders, head coach Jenny Dalton-Hill said that the team is “led by four juniors: Atiyana Wilson, Abby Schweighardt, Sydney Arnold and Riley Brown.” She also mentioned that each athlete “has her own strengths” and “[they] are excited to see how this class will lead [them] during this season.”

Although Dunbar’s team has a strong roster, they still have some big competition in the region. According to Hill, their biggest competition will be Woodford County and Scott County because “both teams return both pitching and offense, so getting through them will be difficult.” Even with tough competition, the Lady Bulldogs are striving to push through to the state finals. When asked what some goals were for the upcoming season, Hill included  “finish[ing] better than the previous year.” She discussed how their season ended last year in the second round of regionals, and said that the team is “look[ing] forward to making a run through the postseason and land[ing] in the state finals.”

All in all, this season will be very exciting for the Dunbar softball team. Be sure to come support and support the Bulldogs at their next home game on Apr. 26 against Tates Creek at 6:00.