PREP GIRLS SOFTBALL: WARDEN COUGARS (2B)

Head coach: Wes Richins (14th year)

2010 overall record: 18-8

2011 league record: 9-3

2011 postseason: State qualifier, District champions

Number of returnees: Seven

ROSTER: SENIORS - Amanda Elizalde, Elizabeth Pruneda, and Stacee Villareal; JUNIORS - Tawnie Gonsalez, Cassondra Platas, and Kayla Martinez; SOPHOMORES - Iris Rodriguez, Bianca Hernandez, Narcy Guerra, Brenda DeLeon, Hannah Bisnett, and Abby Richins.

OUTLOOK: Yes, the Warden Lady Cougars lost only one senior, but that one graduate was Class 1A All-State pitcher Randi Wright. So even if they come into the 2011 season loaded for bear, it may take a bit before the team gets their mojo.

"With the loss of Randi we have to shuffle some kids around and step it up," Warden head coach Wes Richins said. "Iris Rodriguez will play some infield, but will do the majority of the pitching with the help of Cassondra Platas and Narcy Guerra.  Bianca Hernandez is our rock at catcher and will control and call the game.  Tawnie Gonsalez will patrol the outfield, probably one of the fastest players in the league."

Those girls are the seven key returnees from last year's 18-8 team that made the state finals and promptly went 1-2 before being eliminated and left out of the trophy haul.

Now, the Lady Cougars have a new home - the North Central Washington 2B league - and will head into a new season as one of the stronger teams in the state.

"We are fairly young, but we have a lot of experience," Richins said. "These girls have played a lot of ball together.  We should be a good offensive team and can hit with some power."

While doing that they will need to get used to a whole new competitive landscape.

"We have to adjust to the new league, new players and figure out the pitching," Richins said. "We are the new kids on the block, and yes they don't know much about us, but we don't know anything about them.  All we can do is concentrate on ourselves and continue to get better throughout the season."

Rodriguez comes back a second-team All-State Class 1A performer while Hernandez and Gonsalez joined her as South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) honors winners.

"Our goals are state since we want to make a statement, and bring home hardware from Yakima," Richins said. "We have five teams in our district that went to state last year and most of them return the majority of their team.  This is not going to be a cake walk, we are going to have to play well to achieve our goal of placing at state."

Warden will battle it out with Kittitas and Thorp/Easton.

"We start off with a tough non-league schedule against some top 1A and 2A teams, namely,  Cheney, Chelan, River View, and Royal," Richins said. "I hope to battle and improve so that we hit league as a seasoned team.."