Paris has been making the right decisions this season.

Paris at Community R-6 Photo Gallery

The Lady Coyotes are off to their best start since possibly 2005 or 2006, according to head coach Collin Huffman, winning 6-3 on Wednesday at Community R-6 to improve their record to 9-3. Paris took a 5-3 lead in the fourth inning after three runs scored on Emma Ashenfelter’s hard ground ball that triggered two errors by the Lady Trojan defense.

Huffman said it has been different for Paris (9-3) this season, partially because of the girls’ aggressiveness on the basepaths. The Lady Coyotes stole six bases and made a habit of advancing baserunners to put the team in position to score three unearned runs, two on passed balls and one via a RBI single by Reese Sutton, who was 2-for-4.

“We’re going to be aggressive because I know it takes good plays still to get us out,” Huffman said. “I’m willing to take our chances with our speed, especially against a girl that can throw to a girl, make a catch and make a tag. There’s a lot of stuff that has to happen. I’ve been a little conservative so far in my coaching career, and I decided this year that we’re not going to be.”

Huffman “kept sending them” as long as Paris was able to take the extra base, and those decisions paid off in the fourth inning. Community (9-4) had four errors in that inning, partially due to hard-hit ground balls by the Lady Coyotes. 

On the other hand, Paris had some standout defensive plays to its credit. Sophia Crusha jumped to make a catch in center field to rob Rylee Rafferty of a possible home run in the seventh inning, and Sutton fielded the pitcher’s position while finishing with a line of seven innings, eight hits, seven strikeouts and two earned runs. Huffman pointed to a play by sophomore Sylvee Graupman in the seventh inning with two runners on and one out.

“The pitchers are doing their job, but the defense is doing the job too,” Huffman said. “We make a lot of good plays, we turn double plays and we make smart decisions when we’re getting outs. I think of Sylvee Graupman in the last inning going and getting that out at second instead of taking it at first to take out that runner in scoring position. That’s a smart play because now they have to hit at least a double to maybe score this girl at first.”

Paris played at Community R-6 a few days ago in a quad that resulted in a 6-5 Lady Coyote loss but won the rematch that counted toward district standings, Huffman said, to put his team at 4-0 in such games. The pitching staff has been stellar all that time as the team’s primary three pitchers all have an ERA below 2.00 — Kennedy Ashenfelter at 0.40, Ava Crain at 1.17 and Sutton at 1.46 after Wednesday.

Huffman said he wanted to see all three pitchers against the legitimate district threat Lady Trojans, who Paris could see again when the postseason begins. Ashenfelter and Crain looked good in the first meeting and Sutton was “pretty tough” except for one mistake on Myla Carroll’s three-RBI home run in the second inning. 

“I already had a plan as I scheduled out my pitchers at the start of the season,” Huffman said. “Who’s pitching who and when they’re pitching them so I know how to game plan. I like to see how certain pitchers go. We have three quality varsity pitchers. It allows me some leeway to keep pitchers fresh and keep us fresh defensively too.”

Emma Ashenfelter has caught 61 of about 70 innings for Paris this season. The Lady Coyotes’ runs allowed per game have dipped to around three runs per game after being at six runs or double digit some years for the previous 11 seasons. She said it goes beyond her and those three girls.

“We have a really good defense that backs them up and makes them more confident,” Ashenfelter said. “They know that if someone hits the ball then we have a defense that will back it up. It’s just knowing that we’re all behind them and ready to support no matter what really helps.”

Ashenfelter is one of five Lady Coyotes with a batting average above .300 and hers is even close to .400. The ball she smoked in the fourth inning caromed hard off the Community infield, which preceded another error that eventually cleared the bases. 

“I was trying not to be too confident and cocky,” Ashenfelter said. “I was keeping my cool and taking a deep breath before because that really helps. I knew, no matter what, we had the rest of the game to come back.”

Huffman believes the record indicates how good Paris is this year and what great accomplishments are within reach. Two of the Lady Coyotes’ losses were by one run — one aforementioned against the Lady Trojans and another the previous night at perennial Lewis and Clark Conference powerhouse Salisbury by a score of 2-1. That Salisbury was the 14th straight loss in the matchup history but by far the smallest since the smallest margin was an 8-0 loss two years ago. 

The other loss Huffman said was just an outlier bad game against winning team Cairo in a 12-3 first-week loss. He said Paris needs to cut out the habit of taking third strikes but likes the state of the team at this point.

“I’m proud of where we’re at,” Huffman said. “We’re heading in the right direction and still have things we need to work on.”

Paris plays at Glasgow (6-2) at 5 p.m. Monday.