North Callaway softball’s 2023 roster will be a puzzle that will be fun to solve.

The Ladybirds head into 2023 coming four straight losing seasons but will also have plenty of younger girls with talent and versatility.

Head coach Mariah McKee said she feels good about this upcoming year even after accounting for any growing pains her young group will have. She said more than half, or about 9-10, of the Ladybirds are freshmen and sophomores while Corynne Miller and Brianna Prosser will be the only two seniors.

“There is no doubt we’re going to have some growing pains this year, but they work hard and they’re going to work through them just fine,” McKee said. “The freshmen I had last year that played some varsity are going to be sophomores so you can just tell by the summer they’ve gotten a lot more confident too and they feel a little more comfortable in those roles.”

North Callaway finished 6-4 in summer scrimmages while averaging 8.5 runs as they look to build off the 6.1 scoring average from the 8-15 season a year ago. Some of those former freshmen turned sophomores were big contributors and are expected to do the same this year.

Kymorie Myers led the team in home runs and RBI last season in an all-conference and all-district campaign, Ella Slater hit a couple out while owning a batting average north of .300 in her all-district season, and Olivia Knoepflein provided good defense at shortstop and pitching in the circle. Slater can really “smoke the ball,” McKee said, as she has done in several scrimmages this summer with multi-hit and multi-RBI games.

Knoepflein will be one pitching option of three as workhorse Lauren Speight is also back and Megan Schmidt will be a freshman. McKee said the team will ease into the role after coming off an injury. McKee said Schmidt provides another good bat and can play shortstop and third base, which is also true for Knoepflein, who has the capability to be a starting catcher along with returning catcher and partial second baseman Abigail Schmidt. All of these pieces and options leave so much open for the Ladybirds.

“It’s like wide open,” McKee said. “We don’t really know where we’re going to put everybody yet, so when we really get into practice, we’ll really see how people gel. It’s going to depend on who is in the circle, making people work around that.”

It doesn’t even stop at the three girls when it comes to pitching as McKee said Emma Wilson can fill gaps in games like if the Ladybirds need an inning filled. Other than that, Wilson plays “a little bit of everything” also.

Madyson Gordon is another upcoming freshman who can supply some speed in the outfield and on the bases like the quiet leader and all-conference player Miller. Gordon will probably play some varsity ball in some capacity, even if it’s just as a baserunner.

 Gordon is a slap hitter like several other Ladybirds are so while they can hit with power, McKee said, there will be other ways to score.

“I’m really going to try to work in some small ball too because I still have my slappers,” McKee said. “We can put the ball in play, making people make plays. Then I’ve got Kymorie, Ella and Abigail and my power in the middle so I’m hoping to well round it out.”

McKee said she expects the same situation in the Eastern Missouri Conference with some quality opponents like Elsberry and Bowling Green vying for the championship following 20-win district title seasons a year ago but has high expectations for her group. She would like to see North Callaway have a winning team while also being competitive against conference foes and is eager to see how the team fares against Class 4 and 5 schools in tournaments.

“It’s just being able to play against that competition to make them rise to the occasion,” McKee said. “Whenever they’re put in districts or whatever, they’re more confident where they’re at. It’s just putting them in those situations to get them comfortable with the uncomfortable.”