The Central Lady Tigers will be a young, but experienced team this fall on the fast-pitch softball diamond.

First off, the Lady Tigers will be without Ayrland Jiles, who is now playing college softball for the University of Arkansas- Monticello Cotton Blossoms.

This fall, center fielder Brianna Taylor, who batted .362 last fall, is the lone senior on the team.

“(Taylor) will be a leader in the outfield,” said Central coach Victor Pierce, beginning his second season as the Lady Tigers’ fast-pitch softball coach.

Taylor is one of nine Lady Tigers who were on last fall’s team that went 16-17.

Juniors back are third baseman/shortstop Alyvia Warner (.329 hitting average last fall), right fielder Keeley Poindexter (.365), shortstop/ second baseman Jhaselyn Gonzalez and first baseman/second baseman Julia Mithlo.

Pitcher/catcher Brenleigh Allen (who hit .474 last fall), catcher/third baseman Charlie Petree (.479), left fielder Zoey Lattimore and outfielder Daylee Gower round out the sophomores.

First baseman Sadie Huff, second baseman/ pitcher Addison Howard, third baseman Lily Kutil and second baseman Avery Sainer are the freshmen players.

“Alyvia and Jhaselyn will be upperclassmen leaders in the infield,” Pierce said. “Brenleigh will do most of the pitching, looking to build on a great season from last year. Charlie is the leading returning hitter.”

Pierce is excited to see how the mixture of youth and experience will turn out this season.

“We have a young team with a lot of freshmen that will start,” he said. “Those freshmen had a great junior high season last year, and I believe they will make a positive impact (this fall). The upperclassmen have played a lot for this team, and I believe they will help the younger girls get better every day. Overall, I expect our team will have a great season.”

So far, things have been rough on the Lady Tigers, who entered this week at 1-8, with the lone win being an 8-4 victory over Stigler on Aug. 16 at the Muldrow Festival.

Last week, the Lady Tigers lost 5-1 to District 2A-12 foe Hulbert on Aug. 27 for the only game played as they were rained out on Aug. 25 at Gore and on Thursday at the Westville Festival. These games have not been rescheduled as of press time.

In the loss to Hulbert, after the Lady Tigers (0-3 in district play) scored once in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, the Lady Riders scored three runs in the third inning and twice in the sixth inning.

In defeat, Allen was 2-for-3 with a triple and a run batted in, Petree tripled and Warner singled and scored Central’s lone run.

Howard (1-3) suffered the loss, despite four strikeouts in six innings.