Junior outfielder Leslie Stark is among seven starters the Lady Owls return for the program's third season. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The Lady Owls have yet to win a conference game, but they hope to begin to turn things around this year -- now that they have an additional summer of solid competition behind them.

"A lot of them played together all summer," noted new MHS head coach Danielle (Charboneau) Callanan, a former Missouri Valley College player who takes the reins from Kelly Langhoff. "It has helped tremendously, just getting more sound."

Marshall (2-16, 0-10 NCMC) had only one senior on the roster a year ago, second baseman Megan Hunt, and has seven positions filled by returning starters -- including promising sophomore pitcher Chelsey Anderson.

"I don't think she's afraid to pitch to anyone," Callanan said. "She throws hard to everybody and mixes in a wide array of pitches."

At the moment, the rest of the staff is unproven -- consisting of freshmen Allie Bockstetter and Stephanie Stark, both of whom threw often during the summer.

"We have a very solid pitcher, we just don't have enough pitchers," Callanan said. While Anderson tossed 101 of the team's 105 innings last year, with a schedule which includes the prospect of 12 games over a two-week span, some depth may be needed.

One area which seemed to get better over the summer was defense, which caused a few problems last year -- in which nearly half of the runs surrendered by Marshall, 86 out of 181, were unearned.

"Defense is one of the stronger points we have right now," Callanan said.

The left side of the infield is solid with speedy sophomore Kelsey Griffin, a true leadoff-type hitter, at shortstop and all-NCMC junior Tara Bartel at third base. Junior Chandra Crawford should take over at first base, while three sophomores -- Alex Sprigg, Nikki Cornine and Courtney Anderson -- vie to fill Hunt's shoes at second.

Sophomore Emily Aldredge is back behind the plate and junior KaeLeigh Brown -- a 2006 all-conference selection -- is a mainstay of the outfield. Also in the outfield are seniors Alicia Gross, Demi Sprigg, Jessica Scott and Tamika Chess and junior Leslie Stark -- all of whom saw action a year ago.

It will be interesting also to see what effect the new coaching staff, Callanan and assistant Amanda Van Winkle, will have on the Lady Owls' development. Callanan said "it's been exciting to get to have leadership and make decisions" after serving a year as an assistant at Santa Fe.

Marshall doubled its number of wins last year, from one to two, and had fewer instances where games ended early on the "mercy rule" during the program's second season. Callanan considers the prospects even brighter this time around.

"They're building and getting strong year to year," she remarked. "I think they have a chance to compete in our conference, compared to previous seasons."