Mar 20, 2017 4 min read

The West Greene girls softball team will enter this season with the word “Pioneers” written across their jersey fronts and a target firmly on their backs.

When you return nearly every player from a team that won the WPIAL Class A championship and advanced to the PIAA finals, that’s only natural.

West Greene head coach Bill Simms is confident his team will be up to the task of taking the opposing team’s best shot each game, and also living up to the expectations surrounding his program again.

“I don’t know if pressure is the right word, but we know what is expected,” said Simms. “We as coaches try to make sure that the girls stay hungry. We don’t want to be a one-and-done team. We want to be good for a number of seasons.”

There’s little reason to think that won’t be the case for the Pioneers, who put together a 26-2 record last year while advancing to the PIAA finals, where they were beaten, 3-2, by Williams Valley.

The deep run into the postseason gave the Pioneers an extra eight games together last season and helped Simms learn a lot about his young squad that included just one senior.

“It gave me a great appreciation for what Clairton (football) does every year,” Simms said. “That grind of a long season, I hope they learned just like we learned as coaches to make sure they didn’t hit a wall. Sometimes, we’d give them a day off or only practice for an hour because there are only so many ground balls you can hit. I learned that sometimes you can do more by doing less.”

Four-year starter and middle-of-the-lineup hitter Bailey Bennington was lost to graduation but there’s plenty of returning firepower on a team that collectively batted over .400 last season.

Sophomore Kaitlyn Rizor will bump up a spot in the lineup to bat cleanup behind McKenna Lampe, Madison Lampe and Madison Renner. All batted .425 or above last season, led by all-state, first-team pick McKenna Lampe’s .618 average.

In the Lampe twins, who both showed plenty of power and speed as freshmen last season, and Renner, who set a state record with 66 RBI as a sophomore, scoring runs will not be an issue for the Pioneers in most games. West Greene averaged more than 10 runs per game last season and was held to single digits just six times in 20 regular season games.

Considering the pitching staff West Greene returns, it should make for a formidable combination.

“We’ve got Madison Renner back and her sister, Jade, is a freshman on the team this year,” said Simms. “She’s a lefty who’s done well in middle school and travel ball. We’re really high on her as well.”

Madison Renner went 19-2 last season, sharing time with Bennington and Rizor. The junior first-team, all-state pick recorded 118 strikeouts.

Madison Renner likely will take on the bulk of the pitching duties, but also will be used at shortstop to replace Bennington. Rizor, who played second last season, could see time at shortstop when Renner is pitching. Sophomore Makenzie Thomas also could figure into the lineup as an infielder.

Because of reclassification, the Pioneers will face a beefed up section with Chartiers-Houston moving up to Class AA, Carmichaels moving back down and Monessen being inserted into the section. Jefferson-Morgan, the 2015 WPIAL champion also remains in Section 2-A. “I like having a team or two to test you in the section,” said Simms.

The Pioneers will head to Myrtle Beach this weekend to open their season before coming north to open section play.

And while the out-of-state teams they face in South Carolina might not know much about West Greene, the Pioneers’ play last season got everyone’s attention – at least in the WPIAL.

“It’s nice to have that respect factor,” said Simms. “We haven’t been in that situation a lot at West Greene. But with that comes a lot of the expectations. We’re trying to keep the girls’ minds focused. This (season) won’t be easy.”