The Montgomery County softball team will look to finish with its third consecutive winning season this fall as 12 players return from last year’s squad that won a school-record 22 games.

Seniors Gracie Cobb, Dylan Topel, Hailey Meyer and Skylar Bethmann, juniors Reese Hill, Samantha Turner, Jillian Weekley and Anna Klekamp and sophomores Kenley Wessel, Sullie Falloon, Megan Blackstock and Shannon Hall are the returning players for the Wildcats, who lost only two-time all-state performer Aliviah Fischer to graduation.

Hill is the team’s top returning player. Last year, she earned all-state honors for the second year in a row after going 15-4 with a 2.31 earned run average on the mound and hit .561 at the plate.

Turner, Topel, Klekamp and Weekley are also the Wildcats’ top returning hitters.

Turner missed the first 13 games of the 2024 season but quickly recovered by hitting .438. Topel also missed some games last year due to injury, but still had a strong year at the plate, hitting .377. Klekamp and Weekley earned spots on the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team a year ago after hitting .333 and .330, respectively.

Besides Topel, Cobb, Meyer and Bethmann are back for their fourth and final year with the Wildcats. Bethmann had 21 hits with 12 RBIs, Meyer had 12 hits with three doubles and Cobb had 16 hits and 18 RBIs in 2024.

Wessel, Falloon, Blackstock and Hall return for their second season with the squad. A year ago, Wessel scored 13 runs and had five hits.

MCHS finished 22-7 last year, reaching the 20-win mark for the first time in program history. The Wildcats shattered last year’s mark of 18 wins. They also won tournament championships at Monroe City and La Plata and placed second in EMO play with an 8-2 mark.

MCHS’ 2024 season ended with a 7-4 loss to Elsberry in the Class 2, District 2 championship game at Kiwanis Fields, making it the second time in three years the Wildcats lost in the district finals.

MCHS turned in a strong offensive season last fall as it hit .346 as a team and scored 10 runs or more 10 times.

Audra Heimer returns for her 11th season as MCHS coach. She has 143 wins in her tenure.

The Wildcats begin their season on Saturday at the Montgomery County Fall Classic. They will play St. Clair at 9 a.m. and Hermann at 12:30 p.m. in pool play before competing in a crossover game later in the day. The Fall Classic was canceled the last two years due to rain.

MCHS will play at the Monroe City Tournament on Sept. 6. The Wildcats will also play in the Take the Lake Softball Tournament at the Lake of the Ozarks for the second year in a row on Sept. 12-13. MCHS replaced the La Plata Tournament for the South Callaway Tournament on Oct. 4.

Silex will be the Wildcats’ first opponent on the EMO schedule as the two teams will square off on Sept. 4 at Kiwanis Fields.