One look at Jada Head’s lineup card can show why there’s plenty to look forward to for Jo Byrns softball.
The Lady Red Devils cycle through as many as five starting pitchers, do not have a junior on their roster and regularly play just one of their three seniors.
“They’re just a feisty group of girls,” Head said. “I have four freshmen, four sophomores and one senior starting. … That takes you a long way to where you can really compete.”
Head and her team prefer to look at the now instead of what’s possible in a year or two.
After a 15-0 win against rival East Robertson on Thursday, Jo Byrns (9-6, 2-0 District 8-1A) grabbed its third consecutive win and matched its win total from last season.
“We have a lot of room for improvement in the future,” said senior and Vol State signee Korey Harris. “There’s a lot of good upcoming potential in everything: hitting, slapping (and) defense and offense both ways. We have a lot of future potential.”
Jo Byrns lost six seniors from last spring, but its lack of experience hasn’t seemed to catch up yet. The Devils jumped out to a five-run lead after the first inning on Thursday, and 11 of their 12 hits against East Robertson came from freshmen or sophomores.
Sophomore Bella Arellano led the charge with a three-hit performance and two RBIs, and freshman Faith Holt hit a triple and sent home three runs in the four-inning game.
Some of the standout underclassmen, according to Harris and Head, are infielder and pitcher Julia Arms, catcher Briley Duke and third baseman Kaliyah Lucas. Duke, a freshman, became the everyday catcher after senior Grayson Bryant tore her ACL at the end of basketball season.
“Briley catching, she started off on a little rough patch, but she definitely stepped up this game,” Harris said. “I think that will definitely help us in the future with being leaders.”
Lucas leads the team with a .400 batting average, and Arms bats .304 while having thrown at least one no-hitter in the circle.
Each of Jo Byrns’ top six hitters are underclassmen.
“Our outfield is solid,” Head added. “Alyssa (Mitchell)’s a freshman in left field, Bella in center field is a sophomore, and Faith Holt is a freshman in right field. They, I think, all season have had two errors in all the games we’ve had. It’s pretty much an out if you hit it to them.”
The Red Devils reached a region championship and sectional game for the first time ever last spring. The school’s then-eighth grade class was with the team when it suffered a 3-1 loss to Summertown in the sectional round.
Head said that loss is fueling each player to return to at least that level this year. In a rematch last weekend at Lincoln County, Jo Byrns – which sits one win away from a regular-season district title – took the reigning Class A state champions to an international tiebreaker in tournament play.
“Just because we are so young, we have to keep our heads up and just look to the future in the best way possible,” Harris said.
“I think we definitely have a lot of potential and it’s really going to help us. It might hurt us a little just because we’re young and stuff like that, but I think we’ll work our way up.”
Blaine Kellar serves as the sports reporter for the Robertson County Connection. He graduated from Austin Peay State University in 2022 and has contributed for Main Street Preps since 2019.
Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. Heavy and torrential downpours at times. High 89F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
Tonight
Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms mainly during the evening. Heavy and torrential downpours at times. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
