The Vina High School varsity softball team is primed and ready for the 2025 campaign. Coming off a double-digit win season in 2024, the Lady Red Devils are returning a majority of its key players from that team, giving Vina a still youthful but seasoned base of student-athletes to build the season off of.
“We’re an experienced but still fairly young team,” Vina head coach Randy Barnes said. “We’re bringing back seven starters from a team that won 15 games last year.
“I’ll probably start four kids just in the eighth to ninth, tenth grade. But they’ve got the experience,” he added. “Some of these kids have been starting since they were in the seventh grade, so we’re pretty excited to see where we’re at and hopefully make a push into the regional tournament.”
Among the key returners will be players like senior Aimee Jo Shotts, who was a Franklin Free Press All-Franklin County First Team pitcher last season, and sophomore Lana Bell, who was an all-county honorable mention last year, as well. Both Shotts and Bell will be vital for the Lady Red Devils’ success with their performances in the circle—and in other positions around the field, too.
“Certainly when you can return some key pitching, it’s always a plus,” Barnes said. “Aimee Shotts has been with the program for five years now. She’s very reliable. She’s a good pitcher, also a good fielder. Lana Bell also handles pitching duties and plays in the infield, as well.
“Anytime you can have strong pitching that helps, and I think that’s one of the big positives going for us, having those two returning for us,” he added. “They’ve logged a lot of innings for us and they’ve been working hard this offseason and they’re ready to go.”
Other crucial pieces, Barnes said, include upperclassmen like senior Claire McCarley; junior Braxtyn Quinn, who will likely bat in the cleanup spot; and junior Harleigh Ridge, who will primarily sit behind the plate.
Then there are some of the younger players like sophomore Kenzie Elrod, who will hold down centerfield and likely bat leadoff, as well as up-and-comers like freshman Ali Raper, eighth grader Allie Lann, and seventh graders Lindie Easterling and Miley Pannell, among others. All of these players Barnes expects to see receive significant playing time.
Despite this squad’s youth, Barnes said the younger ones are coming along with the help and guidance of the veterans.
“Like I said, we’ve got a lot of experience on this team, we’re just young. But the good thing is we’ve got some good leaders,” he said. “The older ones have kinda taken the younger ones under their wing.”
For Vina to achieve its goal of reaching the regional this season, the younger and older players will have to come together to knock off some stiff competition, especially in area play. The Lady Red Devils are Class 1A Area 13 mates with Phillips; Lynn, who qualified for the regional last season; and Hackleburg, who made the state championship tournament and finished 2024 ranked No. 6.
“We’ve got a tough area—a tough area in 1A to be in,” Barnes said. “Hackleburg, who finished third in the state last year, is returning all their starters. We dropped Belgreen, who made the jump to 2A, and picked up Lynn, who also has a good program going over there. And then we have Phillips, which is somebody that I’ve seen over the last couple of years that’s heavily improved their team. So, we definitely don’t have a slouch for an area.”
Despite the daunting potential of the opposition, Barnes is confident that this team can overcome their area rivals to achieve their set objectives.
“We set the goals before the season even started to let the kids know where we want to be,” Barnes said. “Every single game we play—we might play 40 games leading up to that area tournament. At the end of the day we want to be playing when half the teams in the state are not and that’s in the regional tournament.
“Getting out the area tournament and getting out of the regional tournament is one of our goals, and that just gives us the opportunity to compete and possibly get a spot in the state tournament,” he added.
“I really like our team and I really like where we’re at. I’ve got 20 kids that are sharing that vision with me, and they’re working really hard to reach that goal. It’s not gonna be easy, but I think we’re working just as hard as anybody else and we’re excited about that. Hopefully come April we’ll be punching our ticket to that regional tournament.”
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