Courtesy Photo The 2023 Alpena High School softball team includes Shay Allen, Madison Bloom, Avery Dubey, Izzy Edmonds, Sydney Hitzelberger, Eliana Kelley, Lexius McDonald, Emilee Modrzejewski, Lanie Morgan, Grace Pratt, Ava Rospierski, Macy Schram and Marah Wisniewski.

ALPENA — The Alpena High softball team has high standards and plenty of talent for the 2023 season.

With a team filled with tons of talent in the circle as well as on offense and defense, the potential for this year’s team is incredibly high.

The Wildcats are already off to a solid start to the season and began Big North Conference play last week with two wins against Cadillac.

“We are looking forward to starting the season with games in our conference and all of those games are going to be a challenge for us,” Alpena coach Paul Marwede said. “The next five weeks are going to be tough, but I think we’re ready for that challenge.”

Alpena has a talented veteran pitching staff, but it also has good depth throughout its lineup. Alpena’s pitching rotation includes seniors Lanie Morgan and Marah Wisniewski and sophomore Izzy Edmonds. All three are returning players that have pitched for the Wildcats in the past and have proven themselves to be solid players.

“Our team is getting better every day. We started off (2-2) on the season probably allowing more runs than we would’ve liked, but we’re settling in and reducing the runs our opponents are scoring on us,” Marwede said.

Not only does Alpena have a strong pitching staff, but the team’s ability to hit and score runs has been demonstrated on several occasions already this year. The Wildcats also have a variety of power and contact hitters in their lineup.

Alpena’s roster includes Avery Dubey, Sydney Hitzelberger, Macy Schram, Emilee Modrzejewski, Edmonds, Morgan, Wisniewski, Lexius McDonald, Ava Rospierski, Madison Bloom, Shay Allen, Eliana Kelley, and Grace Pratt.

“I think we have a really good group of hitters that can all be really good this year, but one hitter won’t win you a game. Everyone on this team is going to have to step up and work together for us to be successful this year,” Marwede said.