With the playoffs a little more than a month away, both the Ethel Lady Tigers and Kosciusko Lady Whippets slow-pitch softball teams are starting to find their usual form.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Ethel Head Coach Chris Schuster’s team was 8-3 and Kosy Head Coach Tony Terry’s squad was 9-1.
The following are informal, mid-season appraisals of each team, according to their coaches:
Schuster: “We just need to improve defensively. I was hoping that we’d be better at this point in the season. We still have a lot of work to do.
“We haven’t played our best softball yet and we’re making too many errors.
“But, I always tell them ‘You don’t want to peak too early.’ Last year we did really well in playoffs because we started peaking when they started.”
Terry: “We’ve had some rainouts and postponements. Last week, we had five games, with a Starkville makeup game, two McAdams games and two with 
Velma Jackson.
“Like I said, we have a lot of kids who are playing slow-pitch for the first time, but it’s getting better.”
Schuster: “We’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries and illness. Three players had strep throat the past two weeks.
“I’m kind of OK with it, because I always say that if you don’t play your best softball and still win games, then that means you’re a pretty good team.”
Terry: “The competition is going to pick up a lot this week because West Lauderdale is one of the best slow-pitch teams in Mississippi, so it’ll be a good test for us. Them and Chocktaw Central is what we have coming up next and they’re two of the best slow-pitch teams in the state. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”
Schuster: “We start district in two weeks, so I’m hoping by district we can get it all back together.”
Terry: “We like challenges and that what keeps you motivated as a coach and a player. We’re kind of looking forward to the next couple of weeks to see how the kids have progressed.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, the combined score of the both teams’ last four games, two double-headers apiece, was 69-1.
