North Duplin head coach Jaime Kylis, right, has a chat with Riley Hatch, left, and Adaisha Bernal, middle, during a timeout in a game last season. The Rebels launch their 2023 softball season Tuesday at county rival James Kenan. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
CALYPSO — Jaime Kylis doesn’t mind starting the season a week late.
The second-year North Duplin softball coach watched half of her players pen another historical season on the basketball court. The Rebels reached the fourth round for the first time since 1990.
That left little preparation time for the 2023 season, which starts Tuesday evening at county rival James Kenan. First pitch is 6 p.m. in Warsaw.
“It’s been a little frustrating, but in a good way,” Kylis said. “Most of my girls play travel ball, so they were able to keep up with their game, but there’s no preseason with us because they all play other sports.
“[Travel ball] experience is going to be able to get us through the time that we missed. We’re not dealing with a bunch of freshmen who have never played. [And] it helps that youth is on our side.”
Eight starters, including six underclassmen, return.
In fact, Kylis has just two seniors on her roster — Barton signee Kasey Jones and multi-sport athlete Adaisha Bernal. That duo played integral roles for the Rebels, who successfully defended their Carolina 1A regular-season championship and made a second-round appearance in the playoffs last spring.
Travel-ball teams play at least five games on the weekend and rarely have organized sessions to fine-tune their skills.
Kylis has concentrated on technical things: plate approach, defensive awareness on each pitch, lateral movement and tracking deep fly balls near the fence.
Then there’s pitching.
Addy Higginbotham started inside the circle, but was moved to the infield. Starr Jaco, who graduated, handled pitching duties the remainder of the season.
Freshman right-hander Lilly Fulghum will toe the rubber this season.
“She’s used to seeing competitive teams [in travel ball], has a good mixture of pitches that I will be calling for with an experienced catcher behind the plate like Kasey,” Kylis said. “We’re blessed that Kasey is still with us and can handle Lilly with no problem. That’s going to be a good little combo back there.”
Back with Jones and Higginbotham are East Carolina commit Reece Outlaw, Sarah Tucker, Eva Quintanilla, Ila Overton, Riley Hatch and Meghan Martin. Hatch and Martin each endured season-ending injuries.
Jones belted a team-leading seven home runs. Outlaw logged the highest batting average (.569) and on-base percentage (.672). Higginbotham hit .545 at the dish and Hatch was next at .406.
Kylis said she needs to find a third baseman and outfielder.
“Obviously, we are going to compete,” Kylis said. “I think there is a different level of excitement knowing that we can have someone to pitch. The pressure was always on our offense last year because we knew were going to give up a lot of runs with our pitching.
“I think the pressure comes off just a little bit [this year] because we’ve got some help in the circle.”
After visiting Kenan to open the season, the Rebels return home Wednesday to face South Lenoir. According to the current schedule, will play four of their first contests on the road.
Conference play begins March 21 at home against Neuse Charter. North Duplin is 61-13 against league opposition since 2015.
