George County baseball, Harrison Central softball top Sun Herald preseason polls
George County's baseball team and Harrison Central's softball team look like two of the title contenders from the Coast heading into the 2016 season.
Both squads made deep runs in the playoffs a year ago, with the Red Rebelettes bringing home a title while the Rebels came up just short.
Expectations are high once again as both teams open the preseason unanimously atop their respective Sun Herald polls.
No. 1 HCHS (28-6 in 2015) returns six starters from a year ago, including reigning Sun Herald Player of the Year and Mississippi College signee Madison Burge.
"I feel like we have the potential to repeat," HCHS coach Jimmy Parker said. "It's just according to how hard we work and how bad the girls want to repeat and not get complacent.
"I think we have the talent. We have the pitching. We just need some girls to step up and pick up the slack from the seniors who graduated."
Like most seasons, plenty of expectations are on softball squads like No. 2 West Harrison (24-11), No. 3 St. Martin (18-9-1), No. 4 East Central (18-6-1) and No. 5 St. Patrick (25-3-1).
Other teams that could jump up are No. 6 George County (14-14), No. 7 Long Beach (18-8-2), No. 8 Hancock (11-10-1) and Poplarville (15-10), Picayune (14-10-3) and Ocean Springs (13-14-1), who all tied for ninth.
Pearl River Central (19-7) and Pascagoula (7-10-1) also received votes in the preseason poll.
Baseball
Like the Red Rebelettes, George County's baseball team (23-8) looks like it's loaded for another run. The Rebels' lineup is bolstered by Mississippi State signee Walker Robbins, who hit .348 with four homers while also posting a 1.47 ERA with eight wins and 82 strikeouts in 57 innings on the mound.
Two teams who hope to improve on last year's results are No. 7 Pascagoula (10-15) and No. 8 Biloxi (22-13), which is led by long-time Clinton coach Eddie Lofton.
Although Lofton thinks his team can be dangerous on the base paths, he touted his team's potential to have a balanced lineup.
"I think we're definitely going to have some speed. I like the speed that our team has," he said. "It's not one of the fastest I've ever had, but we have some guys in the middle of the lineup (with some power) and then some guys at the top and bottom who can cause some chaos.
"We hope to be able to put things in motion with bunting, hitting-and-running to put pressure on the defense."
The Indians should be fine on the mound as well with the likes of Austin Creel (2.01 ERA, 8-1 record) returning to anchor the rotation.
The Panthers finished under .500 in '15 for the first time in Richie Tillman's tenure. Senior Hayden Hamm believes there's plenty of reason for optimism in 2016, especially with 12 upperclassmen on the roster.
"Anytime you go though a year that it's rough you never want to repeat like that," he said. "You always come back stronger. Everybody always says what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Definitely building on that season is going to be good."
Nipping at the Rebels for top billing heading into the 2016 season are No. 2 Harrison Central (17-9) and Gulfport (17-15) and Ocean Springs (15-10), which tied for third. No. 5 East Central (17-12), No. 6 St. Stanislaus (29-5), No. 9 Long Beach (14-13) and No. 10 D'Iberville (10-14) round out the preseason top 10. Vancleave (10-12) and West Harrison (16-10) also received votes.
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 7:37 PM with the headline "George County baseball, Harrison Central softball top Sun Herald preseason polls ."