UPrep’s Athletic Director Rebecca Moe, is the new head coach of Pumas’ baseball. This will be her first year, taking the place of Greg Bell, the Puma’s head baseball coach from the last three seasons, including a third place finish at State in 2022. He led UPrep to a 4-13 record last season with the team going 2-10 in conference play. The Pumas failed to hit a home run all year and didn’t even make the playoffs.
“I think we had more talent than we expressed in the way we played last year,” junior shortstop/pitcher Owen Bradley said. “It was a generally disappointing season.”
Moe said nothing on the reason behind Bell’s departure.
The Pumas hired a replacement from Nashville, who moved to Lakeside on Jan. 23, a mere five weeks from the season. There, he has taken up an administrative position as well as being an assistant coach on their baseball team.
“There’s no ill will here for either of them. A job like this in a place like Seattle is hard to make happen because of the cost of living,” Moe said. “Every year, I never know what’s going to happen with my coaching staff. People’s lives change, and things happen.”
The aftermath of this intense carousel leaves Moe at the helm. She played college softball at Fordham University and was team captain in her junior and senior years.
“I’m really competitive,” Moe said. “I always push myself and my teammates to be better.”
This year, to be the most successful, the Pumas need to win conference games, which come in handy in case of a tiebreaker because they carry more weight in the standings.
“We need to win as many league games as possible and get ourselves into the playoffs and into a good position, which means we need to really be strategic about pitching. Anything can happen once we get there,” Moe said.
Senior utility infielder/pitcher Hawthorne Moody agrees with Moe.
“We have a really promising team this year, but I’m not going to pretend we aren’t underdogs. We can make it to State, and we can win,” Moody said.
UPrep gave up 66 more runs than they scored last year.
“Run production needs to be a priority,” Moody said.
Moody usually bats third, behind Bradley and first baseman/outfielder Jasper Schmidt.
“I trust those guys to get on base and use their speed, and then it’s my job to drive them in,” Moody said.
“We have a little bit of a bigger team this year, so guys will really have to fight for their spots,” Moe said. “If you’re not making the plays you should be, or not producing at the plate, it just goes to the next guy up.”
The team will try to build around their three captains, Bradley, Schmidt and Moody.
“Those are the guys that we have our eye on this year. We’ll make sure we put them in a position to succeed, and we’ve got some good freshmen coming in,” Moe said.
Moody also believes the team can accomplish more, and points to junior catcher/third baseman Grady Stone.
“Grady made some electric plays for us last season, and I think he’s going to step up and have a really big year.”
UPrep once again has a Metro opponent on the docket, as they will play Ingraham on Mar 21.
“That one’s going to be a really good game. It’s a Friday night, it’s primetime, and I think we can pull it off,” Moody said. “That’s our chance to show people who we are.”
Moody has high expectations for himself and the team this season, having batted .480 last season with a 1.40 ERA and 78 strikeouts.
“Hitting .480 isn’t easy, and I was on point with the bat last year, but I expect myself to have an even better season. I see 19 games on the schedule, and I see 19 games we can win,” Moody said.
Overall, team morale, and expectations, are high.
“Sure, we ended up 4-13 last year, but we were a couple plays away from 7-10,” Moe said. “Every pitch matters, and it’s about pulling out those tight games to make a difference.”
The Pumas are featuring a slightly more experiemced team this year, with more upperclassmen and more players with prior experience.
“It’s going to be exciting as we go forward,” Moe said. “It’s a story to be written.”
