Going into this season, Paris softball thought it would be good.

The Lady Coyotes are coming off their first Final Four after finishing with a 23-8 record and have started this season 9-0. Last year, they were 7-2 through their first nine games but won both games in Community R-6’s triangular on Saturday — 12-3 over Community (5-8) and 11-1 over Class 4 Hannibal (2-8).

Head coach Collin Huffman said the team never focuses on its record but instead shoots for perfection because the end result is usually still pretty good.

Paris vs Hannibal Photo Gallery

“I just want to keep competing every game,” Huffman said. “We don’t focus on trying to have a perfect record. I do tell the girls that we try to be perfect in everything we do, whether we’re warming up to be perfect on our stretches and perfect on our throws. If we play perfect, we know we’re going to come out on top. If we always try to be perfect, we can at least be excellent.”

Huffman said excellent is a good way to describe the season for Paris this season. The Lady Coyotes can have a fair share of 10-run victories but own two signature one-run games. They came back to defeat Cairo 8-7 in a state quarterfinal rematch and defeated Lewis and Clark Conference rival North Shelby 3-2, scoring all three runs on a home run by Emma Ashenfelter.

“I like playing close games because those are more important than 10-run games,” Huffman said. “Sure, our offense is great but let’s see if our defense can hold in a tight game.”

Reese Sutton tied the school record for home runs in a single season with seven last season and has been on a power streak recently. Sutton crushed five home runs in a four-game span through Saturday to bring her season total to six. She went into Saturday with three home runs and a co-holder of the school’s career home run record before swatting three home runs during the triangular to bring her total to 17.

Huffman said he knew Sutton would hit more home runs this season after seeing her swing in the offseason. He said he loves having Sutton hit in the No. 2 spot because it is more likely she will see pitches to hit.

“Her swing is more consistent as she’s just driving through the ball,” Huffman said. “When she doesn’t try to hit home runs, she hits home runs. When she tries to hit home runs, she pops up. She’s not chasing like she was early in the season. She’s putting together good swings every time.”

Sutton said she and the rest of the team takes tee work seriously and works on hitting constantly in practice, adding she “couldn’t be happier with what we’ve got right now.” She joked how some players could get sick of the amount of work, but she could hit off the tee “for hours.”

“I started out really rough, having a really bad first week,” Sutton said. “You just need to relax and have your head in. I pull my head more than anything, but I’m just trying to look at the ball and be really relaxed. Don’t try to do too much is the key.”

Huffman said sophomore Katie Cummins provides Sutton good protection in the No. 3 spot. Cummins went into Saturday hitting .476 and was of five Lady Coyotes with an OPS over 1.000. The others are Sutton, Sophia Crusha and sophomores Adelynn Thomas and Layla Riechmann. 

Thomas has two home runs, including one in the 8-7 victory against Cairo. Riechmann had a two-RBI double in the six-inning win over Hannibal, and sophomore Raygen Crum had three RBis in the game. Huffman said the sophomores are contributing right away to make this Paris team deep.

“It’s hard to pitch to us because we have so many girls who can hit,” Huffman said. “Summer preparation is key. We’re around each other during the summer a lot, and they play a lot of travel ball, too.”