Finally back over the state playoff hump, Etowah brought home a Region 5AAAAA championship in 2009 on the way to its first postseason berth in more than half a decade.
 |
|
Brandon Michea | Ledger-News
Shanynn Palazzo, the 2009 Region 5AAAAA Player of the Year, is back to help lead the Lady Eagles this fall.
|
And with six returning starters, Lady Eagles’ third-year head coach Tonya Sebring is looking to build off that success this fall.
“I’m excited about the crew I have coming back,” said Sebring, whose team suffered a 3-2 loss in the decisive Game 3 of a best-of-three, first-round state playoff series to Parkview and finished the season 19-9 a year ago. “Although the way we ended last season was disappointing, it was a learning experience; and now that we’ve been there, hopefully we can take it a step further.
“We have a lot of girls that have been in our system for three years already, and while we don’t have a lot of depth right now, this crew is hard working and we should be all right.”
Leading the Lady Eagles are four returning senior starters, including Region 5 Player of the Year Shanynn Palazzo and All-Region Pitcher Lilly Kosicki, both of which were Ledger-News’ First Team All-County selections as juniors.
After batting .390 with 18 runs, 23 RBI and .444 on-base percentage in 2009 while playing all over the field for Etowah, Palazzo is currently holding down duties at second base and serves an important roll as the No. 2 pitcher to Kosicki, who finished 13-4 with 0.83 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 109.2 innings last season.
“Lilly is going to carry a great deal of the load for us,” Sebring said. “Last year was a little bit of self discovery for her, and I think she’s really matured a lot and learned what her strengths are. She worked hard in the offseason, and hopefully she’ll be able to bring us along.”
Seniors Kari Kvitten and Amy Billson also return to the starting line-up, with Kvitten moving to left field and the all-region second-team performer Billson (.302, 10 runs, 15 RBI) keeping her stellar glove at shortstop.
But beyond just their playing experience, Sebring said her seniors are supplying much more.
“They’re all providing great leadership so far,” she said. “They’re not only great players, but they lead by example, and they’re going to be key to our performance this year.”
Joining the senior foursome in returning to the starting lineup is a pair of sophomores in Allie Brown and Torrie Garner.
Brown, an All-Region Second Team selection as a freshman after batting .364 with 14 runs and a .421 average with runners in scoring position, takes over in center field, while Garner is back behind the plate.
Rounding out the Lady Eagles starting line-up are junior Hannah Dickey and sophomore Courtney Atkinson on the corner infield positions, and sophomore Kaitlyn Hughes in right field, while junior Hayley Spears (outfield) and sophomore Jenna Ertel (outfield/first base) will provide depth.
“Our keys are going to be staying healthy, having a consistent defense, and executing our situational hitting,” said Sebring, whose Lady Eagles enter the year ranked No. 5 in Class AAAAA. “Our goal is definitely to build on what we did last year and be playing (in the Elite Eight) in Columbus come October, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We’re in a region that’s competitive from top to bottom, and we know we need to stay focused on region play.”
Etowah opens its season today with a doubleheader at the Mill Creekview Invitational in Gwinnett – facing Grayson and Norcross – and continues tournament play this weekend. The Lady Eagles will then travel to Wheeler for their Region 5 opener, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m.
