And this time around, there’s one roadblock they hope to pass.
“We had rain the other day, so we sat inside and talked about goals and where we’ve been and where we want to go,” said SEB coach Aimee Civalier. “We understand that we’ve been region runner up for three years. We’ve made it to the Elite Eight (of the state playoffs and went) two and out. I think this group right here wants to go past that. They know what they need to do. We’ve been working hard in weight training and we worked all summer long. It’s time to get out there and get it done.”
With two empty spots open on the starting lineup due to the graduation of DeAnn Lewis and Jamie Bohannon, the four freshmen on the squad will be competing for immediate playing time. The two senior outfielders will be hard to replace.
“We’ll feel their loss,” said Civalier. “They were two great senior captain leaders who played varsity all four years.”
The young Jackets will get a chance to earn a spot on the field in the 2008 Glennville Bank & Trust preseason tournament, which features eight teams from around Southeast Georgia. The tournament is put on by host-school Tattnall County, and will also feature Toombs County, Claxton, Long County, Liberty, Vidalia and Appling County.
The first-round games take place at 4 p.m. today at the Glennville Recreation Department, and will run through Saturday. Each team will participate in at least five games. It will give the Jackets a chance to iron out some kinks before the regular season begins.
“We want to give everybody experience — move some people around and juggle the lineup a little bit,” Civalier said. “We’ll give our secondary pitching some opportunities to play in game situations. We’ve got some good competition in the tournament, and it’ll be a good learning experience. It should tell us where we stand and where we need to go from there.”
With four seniors and four juniors, Southeast Bulloch has the experience to make another run at state. They start off the regular season against Brantley County at home on Tuesday, and the Screven County matchup on August 28 has not gone unnoticed.
“We know exactly what the (Screven) dates are,” said Civalier about the head-to-head games against the defending region champions. “They’re very athletic, they’ve got great speed and they’re young and motivated. They’re just as hungry as we are, I’m sure.”
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404.
