[Stardust]

Bethlehem hits the softball diamond this season with a new coach, and so far, the results have been promising with the Banshees winning three of their first four games.


Peter W. Zubaty
New Bethlehem head softball coach Shaun Smith takes over the helm after several years coaching youth and travel team ball. As of Thursday afternoon, Smith’s Banshees were 3-1 on the young season.
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“The teaching part’s been the easy part,” new coach Shaun Smith said. “They’ve adjusted well.”

Smith returns to the game after being away a couple years, but has a deep softball resume in his corner, including several years coaching in youth leagues and in travel ball, as well as serving as a varsity assistant at Bullitt Central.

“After a two-year break, I find myself here and ready to go,” he said, noting that he was “starting to get the fever again.”

So far, Smith said, things have gone smooth as the Banshees get to know him and he gets to know his new team. Among the biggest challenges is figuring out the team’s tendencies, what buttons to push and when.

“Every group’s different,” he said.

The Banshees return a young group, but a veteran one. Six players saw regular time in the starting lineup last year, led by top pitchers Amanda Monin, a senior, and Ashley Conover, a sophomore. Those two will handle the bulk of the pitching, with junior Hannah Farmer also picking up some innings here and there.

Smith has added his own personal touch to the team, helping the Banshees tinker with their swings and adding new weapons to the team’s arsenal.

“It was a concern on how well they’ve adjusted to it, but they’ve sucked it up,” Smith said. “We’ve implemented a lot of new things they weren’t accustomed to and we’re doing things a little different than what they did in the past.”

In many cases, the changes have been welcome ones, such as when senior Kelli Robinson lost her starting catcher job to freshman Abi Duncan, who Smith said has swung a mean bat in practice.

“We’ve had a lot of changes, but changes we should have had a while back,” Robinson said. “We’re just adjusting to everything real well.”

The senior will be in center field this season.

“I love the outfield — I should have been out there a long time ago — I hate being behind the plate,” she said. “I like to run. I’m fast, so I like to show off my speed.”

Smith said the outfield figures to be a strong suit for the Banshees. Robinson will be joined there by Conover and junior Hannah Spaulding.

“One thing I wasn’t expecting is how athletic we are,” Smith said. “We’ve got some kids who are extremely athletic, and that’s a big plus.”

Sophomore MacKenzie Hagan will be at third base and freshman Molly Simms is at shortstop. Farmer will be at first most of the time.

Smith said he hopes to build things up for the end of the season.

“Let’s see how we look in mid-April and into May,” he said. “We know there’s going to be some rough spots early on.”

Robinson likes what she’s seen so far.

“We are a lot more aggressive than we have been in the past,” she said. “We have a lot more athleticism now that we have a new freshman class coming in.”http://www.kystandard.com/content/softba...-new-coach

[Stardust]

[Image: http://www.kystandard.com/sites/www.kyst...oft_02.jpg]New Bethlehem head softball coach Shaun Smith takes over the helm after several years coaching youth and travel team ball. As of Thursday afternoon, Smith’s Banshees were 3-1 on the young season.