By SPENCER BATES
On the other side of the shadows of the winter sports season, our local New York high school softball teams are looking to have big years. With a plethora of returning and veteran players across all of our Empire State teams, the consensus is that these squads are raring to get their 2026 campaigns underway.
With that in mind, here is the outlook on our local softball teams for this year:
OLEAN
The Olean softball team certainly fits under the umbrella of having an abundance of players making their return from last year’s squad after having graduated just one senior last season.
However, there are two significant changes to the team that it will look to navigate and that is the departure of ace pitcher Emma Edwards and a change at the helm as Steve Anastasia stepped down from his head coaching position ahead of this season. Taking his place is Ryan Nawrot.
But, in his own words, the new head of the bench noted that he is not looking to upend what the program did under Anastasia’s watch, his main goals are to solve the hole left in the pitching circle and, simply, be a guiding hand.
“One of the first things that I looked at was, obviously, we had Emma as our pitcher for the past few years … so filling that role, obviously, is going to be one of our main goals, seeing who we can get to jump in there as a pitcher and do well,” Nawrot said.
“I feel like any kind of change, for anybody is difficult, and so what I’ve tried to do is mirror all the stuff that Coach Anastasia has done in the past, and try to reintroduce some of our new philosophies and viewpoints going forward. But it is nice to have those returning players keeping the status quo of what we’ve had throughout the years.”
Those that will be returning will almost all be looked at as player-coaches over the course of the season. The Huskies will have four seniors on the roster and Nawrot will be looking to them in droves to help steer the ship. Ava Finch and Anna Bates were two of those seniors that he, and his own players for that matter, chose to lead the charge.
“We discussed amongst ourselves (as a coaching staff) who we thought the leaders would be, and they’ve told me that in years past, the coaches have picked the captains,” Nawrot said. “And I said, ‘I have a feeling that these girls possibly see the same stuff that we’re seeing.’ So I put it to a vote for the girls to choose their leader … and they picked out Ava Finch and Anna Bates, and that’s exactly the two that we were thinking (as coaches). They play travel ball, they have been in this program for a while, and they’re definitely role models for these girls. They could not have chosen better captains as their leaders for this upcoming season.”
Experience is not a department in which Olean lacks. Where they do is in the numbers. It will be a much smaller roster for the Huskies this season, and because of that Nawrot has emphasized to his players that they may need to be flexible.
“We’re running with a 10-person roster this year,” Nawrot said. “I said to all the girls at the beginning of the year, ‘let’s just say there’s an injury, or we need you to fill a certain role, or somebody is having trouble getting their throw down from third.’ I wanted all of them to have a growth mindset, and know that you might play infield one inning, you might be needed in the outfield another inning. If one of our pitchers is having a bad day, we might need somebody to fill in and help them out. ‘So, let’s have each other’s backs throughout the season, and let’s understand the entire game as a whole.’ … So, having that mindset of trying new things and understanding the game as a whole has been kind of my philosophy.”
SALAMANCA
The Salamanca softball team lost just two players to graduation following last season, therefore it too has jumped right into its routine. And the seniors on the team this will be their third under head coach Paul Furlong, a consistency that has only aided the team’s start.
“One thing that I have noticed is that the girls are starting to understand my routine,” Furlong said. “They’re almost running things. They’re setting up and getting the drills ready, they know what I expect, and, finally, we’re starting to go through some of the things that I want.”
This season, the Warriors will be led by a quartet of seniors in Charli Ross, Makenzie Crouse, Hadleigh Krug and Jaeylyne Cooper. The former of those four is poised to have a big year on both sides of the ball.
Ross is the Warriors’ ace in the circle and a reliable source of hits. But last year, she battled an ankle injury that made her “hesitant” in the eyes of Furlong. That injury has since healed and heading into the 2026 campaign, Furlong is anticipating big things.
“It’ll be great, especially this year, since we’ve got the turf,” Furlong said. “Having her healthy early is going to be huge, because we’ve got five games before spring break. So, hopefully we can get through some non-league stuff early in the year, and then we don’t have to get stacked up with five games in a week where she can’t throw. … Where I’ve seen (the biggest difference) is probably in her hitting. I think last year, with the ankle injury, she was a little hesitant to set that foot down. She’s throwing pitches and then going to hit and you got to have good legs to do both of those things. It’s just a relief to have her be healthy.”
One area in which Furlong does want to see improvement is in his team’s defense. He admitted that last year they allowed too many runners to reach base via walks and opportunities for outs were left untaken at times.
“There were too many times (Charli) got behind in the count and she’s just throwing pitches right down the middle if she didn’t walk them,” Furlong said. “And that kind of goes into our second (thing we want to improve), which is just getting outs. We really had to focus hard on our defense, because we were not a great defensive team last year. We just gave too many easy opportunities for people … If (the opponent) strings together four or five hits, you accept that. But we just can’t give walks, and we can’t give up errors, especially in our league, because the teams are so darn good.”
In terms of goals for the season, Furlong noted he is trying to keep things realistic. Having finished bottom of the CCAA Div. I last season, he is remaining grounded in what expectations he is setting for his team. For the most part, he is just looking for his players to improve every time they step onto the field.
“We were last place in the league last year, and an unrealistic goal is to tell our players that we’re going and winning the league this year,” Furlong said. “Especially knowing what the other teams have in our league. So we’re going on a day-to-day basis, and I ask the girls, pretty much every day, ‘what did you learn today? What did you get better at today?’ If they can shake their head, knowing that, ‘I worked on this. I’m trying to get better at this,’ that’s all we can do right now.”
PORTVILLE
The Panthers nearly returned their entire lineup card from last year. Seven starters are set to return to the diamond and with them comes a surplus of experience that head coach Bill Torrey is more than confident will positively affect the younger players that will be filling in the gaps.
“We returned seven starters from last year,” Torrey said. “We lost a few pieces to graduation that were pivotal, third base, which is quite an important position when it comes to bunting and situational type stuff. But we bring back a wealth of experience, which is good. There’s some younger girls that are coming that are going to need to do some on-job training. … But overall, the girls have come back with a lot of excitement. And we’re just looking to get things started. It’s been pretty good so far.”
Last season, Portville finished with an 8-8 overall record. Within the campaign were stretches where the Panthers ran up the score on their opponents. But eventually there would come a stretch where they would fall cold. Going into this season, consistency is the biggest thing Torrey wants to see improved.
“If your defense is lights out you can only hope to tie unless you can score,” Torrey said. “So, we’re hoping to be able to be a little more consistent, string a few more hits together, timely hits. But, I think there’s some optimism. … High school sports is a game of momentum. There’s so much mental toughness sometimes and consistency is so much more important than I think people always value. It’s not so much how you handle things when they’re going well, it’s how you handle things when they’re not.”
With a veteran group as large as he has, it was impossible to pick out just one player who will be leading the team into battle. Instead, he singled out his three captains in Madison Ford, Bella Morales and Alexa Schoonover as well as the, while slightly younger, still experienced pitcher-catcher duo of Ella Warters and Ella Ziegler.
“Our seniors have been with me now for quite some time,” Torrey said. “Center fielder Madison Ford has played for me since she was in seventh-grade. Bella Morales, who pitches for us now and again, but likes to find her home at shortstop, she’s also been a good leader. Our left fielder, Alexis Schoonover, those three seniors were all voted captains by their peers, and they’re doing their best to set the tone for a season to remember on their way out of their high school career. Outside of our seniors, Ella Warters is really looking to take charge in the circle … and Ella Ziegler, who came in as a catcher and has worked very hard in the preseason.”
In terms of goals for the year Torrey has given his team a unique perspective. He has implored his players to remain focused on the day-to-day, knowing that it can give them the inside path comes the postseason.
“We try and improve every time we step on the dirt,” Torrey said. “We left last season off at .500, and the key to your postseason is usually a good regular season. … I think we were knocked off by the, if not the sectional champs, (one of the best teams in the section in) Chautauqua Lake. We had that draw because we were .500. So, if we can improve every time we step out there, we can give ourselves the best position come postseason.”
ALLEGANY-LIMESTONE
The Gators are coming off a successful 2025 season in which they reached the semifinals of the Section 6 Class B playoffs and finished with a 15-6 overall record.
Entering the 2026 season, they are hopeful to be able to, at least, replicate that level of success after graduating just two seniors from last year’s team. Much like the other local teams, this means they have not skipped a beat in the early goings of this season.
“They came into the season very excited and ready to put in the extra work,” A-L assistant coach Jon Luce said. “It’s not gonna be easy. It’s a very tough league, so they have to play well every single night. But they do have goals that they set for themselves, and to achieve those, they’re going to have to play really well.”
A-L came up just short in its pursuit of a Section 6 title last season, bringing the fight to eventual champions Fredonia away from home. That loss is a memory that has lingered in the minds of the players and has fueled them in the early weeks of the campaign.
“Nothing’s given to them, they know they have to come in and work hard this year,” Luce said. “Coming in as an assistant, helping out the team, I’ve noticed that they are taking it very serious. They’re not taking anything for granted. They’re putting in the extra work. They’re staying after practice to work on things. They come to every practice eager to get better each and every day.”
Now, while the number of players that were lost to graduation following the conclusion of last season may not have been substantial, what the team lost in terms of vocal leadership and offensive production is. Abby Peck was a big source of communication for the Gators and Taylor Foster was able to come up with one big swing after another.
Luce knows the holes left behind by those two will be felt, but has been refreshed to see that there has been no lack of effort from the team to fill those gaps.
“With those two seniors graduating last year, we had to have new girls step up,” Luce said. “It can’t just be Kailey (Truman) out there calling the shots. She has a huge responsibility, being the starting pitcher, but she does have a defense around her. Collectively, there’s a large group of juniors who are just ready to take that role. … One of them, on the field, is Kendall Lemon at shortstop. She’s stepping up right now, calling some shots on the field, where the plays need to happen during practice. So hopefully that continues when it counts, in a live game, and hopefully we can build from that.”
The Gators have placed lofty expectations upon themselves this season. They are, at a minimum, aiming to avenge their postseason defeat from last year while hitting a few milestones along the way. However, according to Luce, they are not simply expecting these goals to come to fruition. They know they will have to scratch and claw for everything this season, but there is not a fight they will be backing down from.
“Talking with the girls about setting some expectations, they’re not getting in over their heads,” Luce said. “They know how difficult it is. They saw their struggles. They saw their successes from last year, and they really want to build upon that. They set these benchmarks: they want to win a league title, they want to go far in sectionals, and they want to compete after that as well. But it’s also realistic. It’s a very difficult sport to play. You got to have good pitching, but you also have to have good fielding and hitting, and they understand this. So, they’re not going in expecting that they can just walk through the season, they know they have to put in the work to achieve some of the goals that they have set for themselves.”
