by Scott Sacry
The Florence girl’s softball team began their State Championship title defense as they hosted Three Forks on Friday, March 31st and Plains on Saturday, April 1st. The Lady Falcons are coming off back to back Class B/C State Championships, winning the title in 2021 and 2022. Overall, the program has won 12 total state softball titles. Florence’s Maurice Craun is in his fourth year as head coach – he has been in and around the program since their first state title and knows what it takes to win.
“We are very lucky here in Florence,” said Craun when asked about the program’s success. “We have great facilities, I have a great coaching staff, we have great community support, and we have excellent support from the school’s administration.”
“We also have a good feeder program that gets young girls interested in softball and allows them to have fun playing softball. The whole community works together to build the program,” said Craun. “And it helps that we have had a lot of great athletes that have played softball over the years.”
This year’s team looks poised to follow in the footsteps of former squads.
“Every year is a different story with a different group of girls and a different dynamic. Team unity is always very important to a team’s success. Seniors Rylee Yeoman and Maddie Potter have been great leaders for us so far this year. We have a lot of great athletes and great softball players on this team.”
On Friday, March 31st Florence hosted Three Forks in their season opening double hitter. In the first game Florence won 17-2. Florence’s pitcher Autumn Sutton got the win and had 5 strikeouts. Olivia Coulter went 4 for 4 and had 2 RBI’s and Ava Philbrick went 2-3 and had 2 RBI’s. In the second game, Florence won 11-5. Rylee Yeoman got the win and had 8 strikeouts. Taylor Pyette went 3 for 4 and had 2 RBI’s and Maggie Schneiter went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s.
Then on Saturday, after a brief snow squall, Florence hosted Plains in another double hitter. Florence won the first game 11-6. Kenzy Pickering got the win and Autumn Sutton got the save. Hailey Sutton went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s and Taylor Pyette went 2 for 2 with 3 RBI’s. In the second game Florence won 16-4. Rylee Yeoman got the win and Autumn Sutton got the save. Olivia Coulter went 2 for 5 and Rylee Yeoman had 3 RBI’s.