Photo courtesy of the Murray County Wheel-Herald: The 2026 Murray County Central softball team consists of (front row, left to right) Jaelynn Kline, Audrey Miller, Charlie Paulzine, Ava Deacon, Reese Wajer, Danyel Neilson, Addy Dierks, Joelle Hellewell, Jaida Carlson, (back row, left to right) Braelyn Haken, Hayden Miller, Emma Ahlquist, Katherine Miller, Calleigh Doeden, Kate Blankenship, Jaelyn Bitker and Erica Doeden. Not pictured is Lilly Kleven.

SLAYTON — The Murray County Central softball team is looking to fill the gaps through the 2026 season following the loss of a strong group of seniors while under a new head coach.

Joel Herrig has taken over the helm for the Rebels after previously serving on the softball staff as an assistant under Elissa Wieneke last year.

Significantly, MCC is now working without Thea Schneider, Taylor Larson, Emmi Peltola and Elyse Paulzine — All of whom played big roles and graduated last season.

MCC had a big 2025 season, going 14-7 overall, which was a significant improvement from its 9-5 2024 campaign. The Rebels’ season came to an end in the Section 3A elimination bracket in a competitive 6-5 loss to MACCRAY, and MCC earned the second seed for the tournament last year.

Particularly, the Rebels are looking to replace Schneider in the pitching circle, who was one of the area’s top pitchers and MCC’s biggest hitters.

“It’s kind of a rebuilding period on that side [pitching]. That’s why we were hoping to get three innings from each [potential new pitcher to start the season] and just see it goes,” Herrig said. “Because we have a senior [Kate Blankenship] that doesn’t have a lot of experience pitching, but she was an All-State shortstop. So, we’re trying to bring the younger player along too.”

Last season in her senior-year campaign, Schneider pitched nearly the entire season for all innings but two, for 131 total innings. She finished the year with 157 strikeouts on a 2.50 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, allowing just 36 walks the entire year.

At the plate, Schneider had a team-second-best 29 hits and 18 RBIs on a .420 batting average.

Herrig said a big aspect the team is working on through the early part of the season is settling down after a mistake is made and gaining more confidence, along with adjusting to the speed and tempo of the game.

But a key piece to the Rebels this season is the return of Blankenship for her senior year. She led MCC last season offensively with 35 hits, 25 RBIs, a .547 batting average and 12 stolen bases. She was also one of the area’s leading hitters.

Both Blankenship and Schneider were named to the Independent’s All-Area First Team last season.

Blankenship also earned All-State honors last season as a shortstop and has now transitioned to being the Rebels’ main pitcher in place of Schneider this year.

Through MCC’s first eight games of the 2026 season, Blankenship has 33 strikeouts while hovering around a 7.918 ERA in her 40 innings in the circle so far. She is also helping to lead the offense, so far with nine hits, six RBIs and six runs.

Charlie Paulzine and Ava Deacon are the two others who have seen a little bit of circle time to start the season.

Peltola and Elyse Paulzine were also dominant at the plate last season, as the Rebels look to step up to fill their absence as well.

Peltola finished with 27 hits, two home runs, 15 RBIs, 11 stolen bases and a .481 average last season. Elyse Paulzine followed with 22 hits, a .333 batting average and 15 RBIs.

But, despite the losses, MCC still has a handful of returning talent. Along with Blankenship, Katherine Miller, Calleigh Doeden and Deacon is another big returning trio for the Rebels, who all played large parts in the team’s success last year.

Deacon shared a team-high 27 runs with Peltola, while also tallying 26 hits with a .347 average. Doeden followed with 22 hits, 20 runs and a .344 average, as did Miller with 17 hits, a team-high three homeruns, 15 RBIs and a .309 batting average.

The Rebels stand at 2-6 through their first eight games to the season as they continue to look at adapting to new roles.

Deacon and Doeden are again having strong offensive starts to the year, in addition to Blankenship, picking up where they left off.

Through MCC’s eight-game start, Deacon has recorded 13 hits with seven runs and six RBIs. Doeden also has nine runs and nine RBIs. Danyel Neilson, Addy Dierks and Reese Wajer have been able to connect at the plate as well to start the year, all of whom also return from last season’s team.

“There’s such a great range of personalities, and they have the experience now. They’ve been playing, at least some of them, since they were freshmen, others since they were sophomores,” Herrig said about this year’s group. “It’s nice going to practice where you have five or six girls who know exactly what everybody is supposed to do and can help out, especially being year number one as the head coach. It’s nice having those girls around that have some experience, that kind of alleviates some of that early season [pressure] with the younger girls who are inexperienced.”