Central High School’s junior varsity (JV) softball team opened the 2018 season with five straight wins, and though the Lady Chargers suffered two losses last week, they rebounded Monday with a 19-5 rout of visiting William Campbell High School.

Sharing her thoughts on her team entering Monday’s game, Central Head Coach Adrianna Caballero said, “We are off to a good start, but there is room for improvement. Pitching from Cameron Lewis has been good, along with the defense in the field. We have hit the ball well but have struggled in the last two games to get those ‘timely’ hits.”

The Lady Chargers won only two games last season but are already 6-2 this year, despite losing some key players to the varsity squad, including Samantha Bishop, Fallyn Hawks, Haley Hayer, Riley Long and Lauren Parrish.

This year, the Central JV team is made up of six freshmen, four sophomores and one eighth-grader.

Caballero noted that standouts include Lewis, a freshman, who, entering Monday’s game, had struck out 29 with only seven walks this year.

Highlighting a couple of sophomores, the coach said, “Hannah Breedlove leads the team with a batting average of .385. Savanna Fowler (is) solid at first base while batting .320.” Eighth-grader Caroline Bayne drew Caballero’s praise for being “a wall behind the plate and batting .379.”

The coach also said freshman Macie Nash was solid at shortstop, batting .304 and leading the team with a .515 onbase percentage.

The starting lineup features Lewis at pitcher, Fowler at first, Nash at shortstop, Bayne at catcher, Breedlove in center field, freshman Kassidy Barton at second, freshman JaShanti Webb at third, sophomore Julie Ginn in left field, freshman Asia Crawley in right field and freshman Kaylee Sullivan as the designated hitter.