CALEDONIA – Way back in preseason practice, before the 2025-2026 softball campaign started for Caledonia, players were listing some of their goals for the upcoming season with the coaches, and pretty soon all the chatter shifted toward going undefeated.
“Some of the coaches kind of perked up and said, ‘Do you know how hard it is to go undefeated?’ head coach Andy Finch recalled.
The back-to-back Region 3-4A champion Cavaliers were coming off a 27-7 finish to last season with a berth into the second round of the Class 4A playoffs, and they believed they could bring their success with them in the jump to 5A. In somewhat of a shock to Finch and the rest of the coaching staff, the Cavs’ confidence in their game soon manifested itself into a reality they’ve seen before – a lot of wins to begin the season.
The team caught fire from the very beginning and dismantled its first three foes by a combined score of 26-0. In the next game, Houston was the first team to land a run against the Cavs, but still ended up losing 12-1. Already 4-0, Caledonia kept on winning and racked up eight more consecutive wins to begin the season with an unblemished mark of 12-0 as it outscored its opponents, 73-13.
Their undefeated dreams, though, were dashed in their next game at Tuscaloosa County, a 7A powerhouse in Alabama, and the team fell into the loss column for the first time all year, 5-1.
“I knew we were capable of having a good start to the year, but I never would have guessed going undefeated (though 12 games),” Finch said. “But some of our girls believed it.”
That first loss didn’t shake their confidence or cause internal mayhem, the Cavs got right back to work the next week and embarked on yet another long win streak to begin Region 1-5A play. After a nonconference 5-3 win over Union, Caledonia swept Columbus by a combined score of 32-0 then took down Eupora 5-4 in another non-region game for five more consecutive wins. Pontotoc was up next and the Cavs kept the Warriors at bay 4-0 in the first game last week before taking their first conference loss in the series finale, 7-4. On Tuesday the team bounced back with a 2-0 win over rival New Hope in which they outhit the Trojans 5-2.
It’s been a spectacular season so far for the Cavs, who are sitting with an overall record of 15-2 and a 4-2 mark in region games, and Finch believes there’s still plenty of room for his team to grow as time wanes toward the playoffs.
“Right now our pitching is doing good, our defense is starting to come around. Hitting is still one day you’re on fire and one day you’re struggling just to scratch a hit or two here and there. That’s just part of the game, but overall the girls are facing adversity through their hitting and they are coming around out of it. They feel pretty confident with their pitching and their defense they have on the field. It’s just about playing with confidence, even with hitting. If you have confidence at the plate you are going to hit the ball, and they are starting to get a little bit of confidence more each day. This time to get hot is the best time to get hot this time of year.”
Finch wants to see even more production on offense even though Caledonia is already no slouch at the plate. Six Cavaliers have registered double-digit hits, with two-way player Kennedy Trotter leading the way with 18 hits on a .321 batting average. Four Cavs have double-digit RBI, and Katelyn Hill (.220) and Madison Richardson (.340) both lead that group with 16 each.
“One through nine, if they get hot there is no easy out,” Finch said. “Sometimes you play teams and their first four hitters are tough outs and after that it’s kind of coasting through until you get back up to the top of the lineup. With ours, one though nine, if they’re on there is no easy out. We have speed, we have power, we have contact. It’s just a testament to our girls and their hard work and their dedication. They’ve put four or five or six years into the program and people are starting to see it and they are starting to see it too.”
The team has been on fire on the mound too with Trotter, a sophomore, leading the way. Through 71 ⅓ innings pitches she’s struck out a team-high 106 and has only given up nine earned runs and 31 hits. Hill, another two-way Cavalier, has been strong in relief and in her starts with 74 strikeouts, eight earned runs and 23 hits. Marlee Kate Franks has been productive in her 10 innings pitched and has fanned 11, and has only given up three earned runs on six hits.
“Our pitching staff does a great job. We don’t give up many walks, we give up many ground balls and fly balls and the pitchers have done a good job in the offseason of preparing for the season. Once the season is here it’s more tweaking and grinding, but it’s also a testament to our defense as far as playing defense behind them,” Finch said. “To have that confidence of, ‘If I throw this pitch here, this girl is going to hit it but I have defense behind me.’ It helps when you have girls behind you that are going to play, and it also helps when you have girls at the plate that will scratch out two runs and we have a chance to win the ball game because our pitching holds them at bay.”
On Friday the Cavs conclude their series against hosts New Hope with another opportunity to get a region win. The team can no longer go undefeated, but that wasn’t their only goal for the season. They want to bring home the region championship and work their way toward becoming state champions.
“We won it two years in a row and going for a three-peat, which is hard to do in any sport, whether it be high school or professional, they want that goal,” Finch said. “They want playoffs, the North Half (Championship) and the state championship. That’s the goals they’ve set for themselves and they are very realistic goals. I told them, ‘When the season starts everybody wants the state championship, but as the season progresses it’s what you are willing to do to get there. Not everybody gets to go and it’s not given to you. It’s earned through tough games, tough practices, tough divisions.’ It’s earned and these girls are starting to see that and they are starting to buy into that.”
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