The Mountain Valley Conference softball season begins April 18 when, weather permitting, the Wiscasset Middle High School Wolverines will host Hall-Dale.

Wolverine Coach Gordon Campbell said he’s confident the girls will be ready to go. As for the playing field, “We’ll just have to wait and see, hopefully we won’t get any more snow like we’ve had earlier this month.” This is Campbell’s fourth season coaching the team.

The MVC season is starting a week earlier than in 2017 when the Wolverines finished 2-12 and ranked 14th in Class C South. Due to its declining enrollment WMHS dropped to Class D this year, although the team will continue to play against Class C schools.

“It’ll be challenging for us, it seems to get more competitive every year,” said Campbell. “Defensively, I think we’ll do fine. It’s our hitting we need to improve but obviously we can’t work on that until we get outdoors.”

For the present Campbell’s charges have been splitting time with the baseball team by working out in the school’s gymnasium. Chelsea Taylor, a personal trainer, has been helping by leading the girls through some conditioning exercises.

“Chelsea’s been volunteering her time working with the girls, she’s just been a tremendous help,” said Campbell.

The Wolverines are a veteran team this year with 12 returnees from 2017 including nine upperclassmen. The seniors include Maeve Blodgett, Leah Potter, August Moore, Lindsey Gordon, Clara Mugnai and Corey Campbell. All six girls were starters last season, Moore having done nearly all of the pitching and Campbell starting every game as catcher.

“They’ve all played for me since they were freshmen and are really looking forward to the season ahead,” added the coach. Another senior, Caitlyn Pinkham, has joined the team.

Other returning players include juniors Paige Adams, Shelby Collins and Sydnie Thayer along with sophomores Farrah Casey and Kelsey Jones. New to the team are sophomores Lyanla Chancellor and Elizabeth Pratt.

Rounding out the roster are three freshmen, Gabby Leavitt, Riley Trask and Kayla Cossette. All played softball on the middle school team last season. Freshman Brooke Thayer is the team manager.

Coach Campbell is hopeful he can begin practicing outdoors in another week. “The snow’s melting away pretty quickly, maybe it will be dry enough for us to use the infield.”

The team doesn’t have any practice games scheduled although the coach said Temple Christian of Waterville has expressed an interest in playing a preseason game.

Temple, like WMHS, is a Class D school as are Richmond High School, Searsport, Greenville and Valley. The Wolverines aren’t scheduled to play any of these schools during the regular season, although they could meet in the playoffs.

The season opener, Wednesday, April 18 is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. The Wolverines then hit the road to play Dirigo April 20, returning to host Mt. Abram April 23.

Other than the season opener, all the games begin at 4 p.m.