Feb. 25 marked the beginning of the high school softball season. West Valley Preps asked local coaches to take a look at their teams:

DYSART DEMONS

4A Black Canyon Region

Coach: Bob Brumbaugh(second year as Dysart head coach)

2025 Record: 4-18, 2-6 region

What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? We have four returning seniors and eight returning players from last year. These players are ready to improve from last season.

What will your team need to improve for the season to be a success? Better pitching and defense. We scored 231 runs last year, but didn’t have the defense or pitching to make those runs hold up.

Who are your team leaders? Savannah Farmer is a senior. Mya Sias is a returning all region outfielder. Miley Anaya is a junior and returns this year to take over the pitching spot. Cheyanne Samarripas is a junior who returns to begin playing at first base. She was our catcher the last 2 seasons. She will also catch at times this year too.

Who are newcomers to the varsity squad that could make an impact? No one new this year

What needs to happen for your squad to reach the state tournament this season, or reach the goals the program has set? Play with confidence. Have better pitching and defense.

PARADISE HONORS PANTHERS

4A Skyline Region

Coach: Christy Waring (third year as Paradise Honors head coach)

2025 Record: 18-8, 10-0 region (Reached 4A first round)

What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? We have so many girls who can play multiple positions, and we’re at least two deep in each position.

What will your team need to improve for the season to be a success? For the season to be a success, our girls will have to keep their confidence up and to remain focused on our goals: to win our region and make a run at state. We only lost two starters from last season, and if our returning girls can mesh well with our newcomers, we can be a very dangerous team.

Who are your team leaders? Our two main leaders are Olivia Jimenez-Facio and Megan Stroh. They are the captains of the team, and they are both four-year varsity players, so they bring a lot experience and knowledge that can really help the youngsters on the team.

Who are newcomers to the varsity squad that could make an impact? We have several newcomers who will make an immediate impact on the team. Aveda Soriano and Abby Rodriguez will be every day starters, and they will definitely help us in many ways! Ellie Carey and Mady Andersen are also two promising freshmen.

What needs to happen for your squad to reach the state tournament this season, or reach the goals the program has set? To reach the state tournament, the girls just need to take things one game at a time and focus on executing our plays, staying positive, and believing in themselves and each other. They need to stay in the moment and not let things get too big. If they can stay grounded and support each other, it should be an exciting season.

SHADOW RIDGE STALLIONS

6A West Valley Region

Coach: Bob Chappelle (first year as Shadow Ridge head coach)

2025 Record: 17-11-1, 7-1 region (Reached 6A first round)

Top returning players: Madilyn Gentner, Sr., CF (.490, 41 runs, 34 RBI); TaMiyah Hall, Sr., SS/3B (.387, 29 SB, 9 RBI)

What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Going into the 2026 season we have two senior four-year starting pitchers. Avery Mackey and Lexi Hughes. Both have pitched a lot of softball games and we believe their experience is really going to help us. We also have another four-year varsity player. Maddie Gentner. She will play center field and be at the top of our lineup. She is the region player of the year last season. All three of these girls are leaders.

What will your team need to improve for the season to be a success? We need to keep developing our offense. We have a lot of potential offensively. We need to keep swinging it well.

Who are your team leaders? Maddie Gentner, Avery Mackey, Lexi Hughes and Laci Hughes. Laci Hughes is a two-year starter at catcher. She does a great job leading our defense.

Who are newcomers to the varsity squad that could make an impact? We have three freshmen that are going to help this season — Emma Beck, Ella Garner and Alexis Garland. Also sophomores Gabby Mercier and Kaycee Hughes.

What needs to happen for your squad to reach the state tournament this season, or reach the goals the program has set? Our first goal is to compete and win our region. For that to happen we need to pitch well and play good defense. By doing that we can stay in all of our games. We are excited for the season to get started. We open in the tough Red Mountain Tournament. Then we move into regular season games. By playing tough competition in that tournament it will prepare us for the season.

WILLOW CANYON WILDCATS

5A Northwest Region

Coach: Donnie Tizzano (eighth year of second stint at Willow Canyon)

2025 Record: 21-11-1, 9-1 region (Reached 4A first round)

Top returning players? Easton Spriggs, Soph., P/1B (11-6, 3.45 ERA, 132 K in 101 1/3 IP, .442, 10 HR, 42 runs, 49 RBI); Mataya Olson, Jr., C/SS (.429, 5 HR, 42 runs, 33 RBI)

What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Our team chemistry is the best it has been since the championship teams. We have power pitching which will keep us competitive throughout the season.

What will your team need to improve for the season to be a success? We will have to improve offensively. We have talented hitters, but we’ll need to mature as hitters as the year progresses.

Who are your team leaders? Juniors Lucy Burroughs and Mataya Olson and senior Caylee Walding are our captains. They have been fantastic role models for our entire team. They had to handle a tricky situation in the fall semester and they handled it beautifully.

Who are newcomers to the varsity squad that could make an impact? We have a strong freshman class this year. Reese Massey, Zoe Salgado, Ally Granda, Vicky Herrera and Olivia Ray will all contribute in different ways this season. There is a lot of talent within this group. Each player brings something different to our team.

What needs to happen for your squad to reach the state tournament this season, or reach the goals the program has set? We’ll need to continue to do what this program has always done which is to compete every pitch, every game. We’ll also need Easton Spriggs, Lucy Burroughs and Mataya Olson to be themselves. Laila Marrero has stepped up early in the year. That has helped fill the void we had in our outfield. We’ll also need Jada Williams and Caylee Walding to get healthy. Those two are key players for us.