In a nine year stretch, the Chillicothe Lady Hornets softball team won six conference titles and eight district titles, culminating in a second place finish in state in 2011. Since then, Chillicothe has turned in two straight losing seasons, the only two in Coach Stan Baldwin's 12 years as Head Coach.
     This season, Baldwin is optimistic about a return to the winning tradition thanks to a large crop of returning players and a healthy dose of young talent.  Chillicothe lost just two seniors from last year's 8-15 season and gained nine freshmen.
     "We're hoping these young players will come in and put a little fuel to our fire here" commented Baldwin.
     One of the key ingredients in past success was always pitching. This year, Baldwin has five pitchers in camp, all of them freshmen. The Lady Hornets skipper is excited about what he sees from the young players. He points to Molly Jones, a right handed pitcher that's the daughter of Baldwin's Assistant Coach Mike Jones, and Harlie Jones, an unrelated lefty, as the top two pitchers. Gracie Ellis is close behind in the #3 position.
     "She throws a little slower, but she'll just bug the heck out of teams because she hits her spots and moves the ball well." The other two freshmen pitchers are Maddie Graham and Jylin Davis.

     Another freshman battling for a starting spot is McKenna Poling who's competing with Sophomore Hannah Stotts for the starting catcher position. Baldwin called them both "green but talented."
     While the Freshmen show promise, it's the Seniors who will be expected to lead the team: Shortstop Sam Baldwin (2nd team All State Infielder in 2013) has both a good glove and a powerful bat at the plate; Lauren Jones will be the Center Fielder and Brooke Nelson will return her golden hands to 1st Base.
     Baldwin says the team's defense should be the key to victory this season.
     "I really think we can put in the bodies to make plays. Pitching will be a lot better than recent years, we just have to score enough runs to help out our pitching."

     If Baldwin's team has their eyes on a  Midland Empire Conference title, they'll have their work cut out for them. Last year St Joseph LeBlond won the Class 2 State Championship while Cameron made the quarterfinals and return both their all-state pitcher and all-state catcher. Toss in the normal outstanding programs like Benton and Smithville, and it could be a challenging Conference race.
     For the Lady Hornets, improvement is clearly on the horizon. The young talent is expected to keep coming over the next few years with the debut of a Middle School softball program. Baldwin says nearly 20 players are out for the first ever CMS softball team, and he expects it to pay "huge dividends" in the coming years.