Coyote softball gelling in preparation for 2022

By Rick Mauch

Weatherford College softball has built a reputation for annually competing for conference championships and postseason berths in the spring. Before that, however, comes the hard work of the fall, which includes working on fundamentals, building chemistry and more. 

After all, preparedness is an essential part of winning-and Coyotes head coach Haylee Williams should know. She's consistently led her team to the postseason, including a world series berth in 2013. 

"Every year, we bring in every position, but pitching is always a priority, and we had to bring in a lot of outfielders this year as we graduated a lot last year," Williams said. 

The Coyotes are coming off a 27-22 season in which they advanced four games in the postseason. They return several key players from that team, including two sophomore pitchers, Teoni Lamb (Australia) and Emma Southerland (Graham). Also, Prya Burns (Visalia, California) is back as an outfielder/designated player, along with utility player Haylee Villarreal (Denver City), for their third year, which the NJCAA granted following the cancellation of the 2020 spring season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Much of the fall is about new recruits, getting them acclimated, building chemistry with the returning players. And once again, Williams is pleased with the crop of newcomers joining her program this year. 

"This entire new class is all very talented. We have a freshman pitcher Amelia Hatthorn (Danbury) and a transfer catcher Charlee Horton (Fairfield University in Connecticut), as well as several other position players that are making it very tough, and practice is competitive," Williams said. 

Finding a way to gel as quickly as possible is always crucial for recruits and returning players. Williams has a knack for locating such chemistry, which appears to be the case again - but there's a process to making that work. 

"They spend a lot of time together. We teach a lot about conflict resolution, how to have a direct conversation and other things that help communication," she said. "It's important to work consistently on team chemistry and mix in team-building activities." 

As always in the fall, scores of games don't matter nearly as much as the other stuff Williams is looking for, which she said is "Competitiveness, toughness, coachability and also seeing who embraces the grind of the fall." 

And, of course, part of the fall is getting an early look at the rest of the conference. Once again, it's arguably the best in the entire country, Williams said. 

"It's the same every year; our conference is tops in the nation, multiple ranked in the top 25 every year," she said. "We are in a competitive conference, and it gets more and more competitive each year. It's fun!"