A BIGGER STINGER: Copan softball boasts more experience

What a difference a year has made for the Copan High softball program.

In the summer of 2021, Randy Davis — returning as the Lady Hornets’ head coach following a long absence — likely felt more like a worker in a clay, trying to twist and shape a usable and fetching product out of a goodly amount of raw material.

But, after a season in the refiner’s fire, much of that rookie material now has plenty of experience and more definable goals heading into the 2022 campaign.

For another thing, Davis is enjoying a boost in the number of girls on the team.

Copan eyes the start of practice for July 18. Although he won’t know for certain until then, Davis said it looks like — based mainly on a meeting in the spring —Copan will have 17 girls in uniform.

That’s a goodly number for a school Copan’s size, particularly when success is still a work in progress.

Davis bid goodbye to three seniors from last year’s squad, including starting shortstop Gentry O’Rourke, whose departure might leave the biggest void.

“We’re going to miss her a lot,” said Davis, noting O’Rourke had been voted as last year’s district Most Valuable Player.

O’Rourke provided a lot of firepower on offense, too, Davis said. Other graduation losses included Abbey Davis at first base and Zoe Strickland in the outfield.

Having noted the positions to be filled, Davis returns girls in the other positions plus others that will be vying to earn a chance to make a major contribution.

A returnee with a high profile is sophomore-to-be Kamryn Van.

“She did 90 percent of our pitching last year,” Davis noted. “It’s good to have her back. I think she’ll be throwing quite a bit better this year.”

Sophomore-to-be Elyzabeth Odum will be Davis’ other pitching option.

Faith Weatherspoon is back to anchor the defense at catcher.

“The good thing is as we get ready to start this year, most of the girls at least have a background now,” Davis said.

“We’re going to build on what they learned last year … instead of having to spend a lot of time teaching the basics of the game. We’ll fine=tune a lot of what they learned last year.”

All things considered, Copan players still have “a lot of learning to do,” Davis said, but added: “We’re encouraged with the number of girls coming out and the experience we’ll have back from last year.”

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Copan High softball program boasts twice the experience as last season