By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

In less than three weeks, the Troup Lady Tigers will be on the field for their season opener.

Kayla Yeargin, Troup’s head softball coach, hopes a busy and productive summer will help have the team ready to go.

The players have been at the school throughout the summer for daily workouts, and Yeargin said a primary focus has been on fitness.

“About half the time it’s been conditioning, girls flipping tires and running bases across the field,” said Yeargin, who has taken over the program after serving as an assistant to Mason Brackett the past few years. “It’s just getting ourselves acclimated to the heat, so by the seventh inning when everybody else is tired and spent, we’ll be fresh.”

Yeargin added that “we also give them a lot of water breaks. We’ll do a drill, take a break in the shade, and come back out. Each drill, we push it to 100 percent.”

Troup is looking to build on a successful 2017 season.

Troup finished third in the Region 5-AAAA tournament before falling to Northwest Whitfield in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Leading the way for Troup are Kayla Lane and Madison McCartney, who are the team’s only seniors.

“They’ve been awesome,” Yeargin said. “They take on a lot of the leadership roles, the older girls. Even the sophomores have kind of stepped up into that role and realized we’ve got to work a little bit harder. It’s nice to let them take on that role.”

Troup will hold its first official preseason practice on Aug. 1, and a few days later it will open the season against LaGrange and Callaway.

Troup will play Callaway at 10 a.m., and LaGrange at noon, and both games will be played at Granger Park.

“I don’t want to wish the next couple of weeks away, but I’m super-excited to get the season started, and see what these girls put out there,” Yeargin said. “Really big things are about to happen. I’m excited to get going.

“You can do a whole bunch in a practice, but they really start to shine when it’s game time.”