[Stardust]

Fleming County softball coach Nathan Ryver enters his fourth season leading the Lady Panthers after getting the program going in the right direction under his tutelage.
Ryver has forged a 55-43 record during his three years in Flemingsburg and says the upcoming season has several question marks after seeing five seniors graduate from last year's 15-13 squad.
"I don't want to call this a rebuilding year but it really kind of is," he said. "We lost 40 percent of our offense and three college level players, including our pitcher, catcher and center fielder. We have a lot to replace and it's going to take some time. We aren't really sure yet what exactly our lineup will be at several positions so we're still trying to find out about our players and put people in the right spots."
The college level players Ryver was referring to are pitcher Victoria Sergent, catcher and leadoff hitter Kayla Brown and center fielder K'Osha Puente, who have all moved on to the next level. Sergent is pitching at Berea College and Brown is playing at the University of Pikeville. Puente is a member of the Berea basketball team and recently decided against playing softball.
"Vee has pitched nearly every inning for us since I've been here," said Ryver. "Kayla was an outstanding defensive player, hitter and base runner. We will miss both Kayla and K'Osha and their speed."
Ryver said sophomore Rachel Boyd and freshman Kayla Biddle will split time in the pitchers circle for the Lady Panthers.
"They're both capable," said Ryver of the young duo. "Rachel has been in basketball and Kayla is just now getting back into pitching shape after being out ill, so we're trying to build stamina in both of them and get their speed up. But it is kinda nice to have two pitchers to share time. I've never been in that situation to have more than one pitcher and I worried at times that I was just working Vee to death."
Ryver does have several starters returning, including junior Paige Hurst, who will be moving behind the plate after playing second base last year.
"Paige has a lot of experience catching in summer ball but since we had Kayla back there, we had to move her to second," said Ryver. "She's looked good and she should be one of our better hitters as well."
Seniors Alex James and Mandy Boyd return at the infield corner spots, with the southpaw James at first and Boyd at third.
"Mandy's our anchor on the infield and very important to our offense. She has such good bat control and moves runners over, so we'd like to keep her in the two spot in the order," Ryver said. "We also have Kayla's little sister, Kira, back at shortstop after she played there as a freshman last year. We're not sure yet but we may lead her off this year. She can get on base and she's very quick and real smart running the bases. Kira will go on streaks too where she will get on 15 out of 20 times."
Ryver said Rachel Boyd will be at second base when she's not pitching but that freshmen Christi Peterson and Morgan Stephens will also see time there as well. Junior Abby Miller will be the backup third baseman and also play some at first base.
The outfield positions are being called a "platoon situation" by Ryver as he still decides on a lineup.
"Amanda Hord is a senior who played right field last year and we're not sure if we'll move her over to center or leave her in right," said Ryver. "We really have a plethora of outfielders to choose from."
The coach said junior Celena Wagoner would likely get the first shot in left field and others in the mix include sophomores Corbin Maddox and Cassie Porter.
Cassie's twin sister Bobbi Joe has impressed Ryver with her hitting and he plans to use her to spell James at first base.
"Bobbi Joe's been crushing the ball and she may end up batting cleanup," said the coach.
In each of the last three years, the Lady Panthers have lost in the 16th Region tournament to eventual region champion Ashland Blazer and Ryver expects the Kittens to again be the team to beat.
"Ashland will be the region favorite with Boyd County, West Carter, Russell and Rowan County also being contenders," said Ryver. "There is very good softball played in our region and most schools have very good facilities and a lot of girls who play only softball, which makes it rough because most of our girls play other sports too. We just got the girls who play basketball last week and we also have several who play soccer."
The Lady Panthers will again face a difficult schedule, including a trip to Florida where they will be play six games in three days in the Cocoa Beach Expo in early April. Fleming will also play in the Madison Central Round Robin, an array of 16th Region foes, in addition to home and away series against Bracken County and Mason County.


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