By SPENCER BATES
PORTVILLE — For a number of our New York softball teams, veteran leadership will be at the heart of just about everything this upcoming season.
Between Portville, Olean, Allegany-Limestone and Salamanca, the most seniors that graduated from one program was five, leaving room for a number of experienced players to make their mark.
Specifically, when it comes to the Panthers of Portville, they will be eyeing another successful year with veterans leading the charge.
Portville finished last season with a 15-3 record, reaching the Section 6 Class B2 Semifinal behind a young roster. And if reaching a Section 6 semifinal is what his team was able to achieve last season, coach Bill Torrey is amped for what his team will be able to accomplish with another year’s worth of experience.
“I think we’re fortunate that we have had tremendous groups of athletes over the past several seasons,” Torrey said. “The name of the game in the spring season is always pitching and catching and we’ve been fortunate to have exceptional catchers and very good pitching the last several years. So, losing our catcher (to graduation last year) is big shoes to fill, but we do have some young girls that are coming up, that need some on-the-job training, but we do return a very solid core. So, I think (the outlook) is optimistic. If the younger girls can learn on the fly, and some of the older girls can keep developing their leadership skills, we could be fun to watch.”
Prior to last season, the Panthers finished with a 14-5 record in 2023 and 17-2 record in 2022. Over that time, Torrey has been able to see the establishment of a winning culture within the program. The habits, the expectations, the necessary work: all things that Torrey has not had to harp on very much as of late, due to the true leadership qualities of each generation that has made its way through the program.
“Winning and losing are cultures that are both really hard to establish or break,” Torrey said. “We’ve been fortunate to be on the receiving end of some good seasons, and I think that all of those girls have been through several years where they have put that expectation on each other. Each group of seniors is new and unique, but they all leave their own footprint. … We’ve been fortunate to cycle up and down, but there’s always a mix of young girls which keeps that ball rolling. They know what’s expected of them and they just keep bringing it every year.”
Taking center stage as leaders for Portville this year will be Madison Ford, Isabella Morales and Peyton Young, three players who Torrey described as not only “exceptional athletes, but also really good people.”
At this point, it is just a matter of how and when they find their specific leadership type.
“They work hard, excel in the classroom and are stand-out individuals,” Torrey said. “So I think transitioning into a leadership role for them is really just more of how they find their way to (being) a vocal leader, a leader by performance, whether they’re the person that their teammates can come talk to in times of need. … I have no doubt that they’ll do a really good job at it because they’re pretty stand-up people.”
As for the product on the field, there is set to be a spotlight in the circle for the Panthers throughout the season. Where other programs may wind up banking on one pitcher alone, Torrey has a pitching duo that he is excited to utilize.
Morales, now a junior, was the go-to pitcher last season for Portville, and in the buildup to the new season, that seems to be the case for this year as well. But, there when needed will be Ella Warters, a sophomore that is set to provide batters with a different look.
“We’re fortunate, we actually have two solid pitchers, which doesn’t always happen,” Torrey said. “Sometimes you got your one and who you ride all season. Isabella, she likes to call herself methodical, because she is slow and steady. She’s going to hit spots and make people earn every at-bat. Our other pitcher, Ella Waters, was a freshman last year, so she didn’t get as many innings as she would have liked, but she brings a little bit more velocity to the equation. So it’s a luxury that we’re fortunate to have. … I’m excited to see what the duo can do, and who is going to be carrying the bulk of the load.”
And with pitching being perhaps the most telling sign of how successful a team will be over the course of a season, Portville will go as far as Morales and Warters take them.
The Panthers get their season underway on April 1 on the road at Falconer.
— Heading into the new season, Olean finds itself with a similar level of fortune.
After losing just one senior to graduation, and three due to different reasons, the Huskies are bringing back eight starters from last year’s team that reached the Section 6 Class A Quarterfinal.
And looking ahead, coach Steve Anastasia noted they will be in the same scenario next year with just one senior on the roster this season. However, that one senior, Emma Edwards, is poised to be — and notably has already been — a galvanizing force behind the team.
“From last year, we had 11 girls that were supposed to come back, three decided not to play due to other reasons, but that still gives us eight coming back from last year, all starters,” Anastasia said. “And again, we only have one senior. I mean, it’s a big senior, we have Emma Edwards, who’s been there since she’s been in eighth grade. But, yeah, it just seems like … in the first week-and-a-half, the younger girls seem to be more confident, seem to be doing better. I’m excited about the season.”
But, according to Anastasia, having just one senior does not mean his team is without veterans. In his eyes, every returner is a vet, considering they check all the boxes: they understand his system, what is asked of them and how to best accomplish the goals of the program.
“All these girls coming back are considered veterans, so they know the routine, they know what I expect,” Anastasia said. “It just seems like a looser atmosphere and experience is huge. When I started coaching softball, I never thought I would take a seventh grader, take an eighth grader, let alone a ninth grader. But now I’m in the mindset where I’m going to take the best players and the best players are going to play. I don’t care if they’re in seventh grade or 12th grade.”
But still, with all the experience coming back to the roster this season, Edwards, who officially signed her letter of intent to play softball at Div. I Tarleton State University after graduation, will be the driving force for the Huskies. Leading from the circle, Anastasia noted “We’re going to go as Emma goes.”
“We have 18 games and she’s going to go in all of them, and hopefully go the distance,” Anastasia said. “Softball pitching is not like baseball pitching, you don’t need rest, there’s not a pitch count, there’s not anything like that. So, if she can withstand an 18-24 game season, she’s going to be going.”
Olean is set to get its season underway at home against Randolph on March 31.
— Allegany-Limestone is another team that is set to benefit from a number returning talent after losing just two seniors — Addison Thornton and Megan Fisher — to graduation last season.
The Gators, coming off an 11-8 season, are set to return the top-seven players that saw the most at-bats over the previous campaign.
Eight of the 14 rostered players for A-L last season were underclassmen or below. The Gators will be hoping the experience their younger players received over the course of last year will pay dividends in the new campaign.
A-L will begin its season on March 27 against East Aurora.
— Salamanca lost the most players to graduation out of the four programs after last season, but still the number of losses is just five.
Brianna Benjamin, Marlee Maybee, Camryn Quigley, Kortney DeBoy and Sunny O’Conner each departed from the program, but in their wake is a youthful team that is bringing a significant amount of experience back to the field.
The Warriors finished last season with a 4-16 record and will hope to continue the upward trajectory of the program after their 0-16 season in 2023.
Salamanca will begin its season on the road against Brcoton on April 5.
