Coach: Dave Lesinski

2005 Record: 19-18 (5-7 North East Michigan Conference)

Returning athletes: Angela Righetti, sr., C (.403, 10 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR, 26 RBI, 37 R, 13 SB); Jenna Potts, jr., SS (.405, 28 R, 23 RBI); Jessica Look, sr., IF; Whitney Moers, sr., IF/OF/P; Sarah Simmons, sr., OF/1B; Lindsey Pearsall, sr., OF; Mollie King, sr., IF/OF. Potts was 1st-team all-NEMC, Righetti 2nd-team all-NEMC, 1st team D3 all-state in 2005.

New to varsity: Nickie Stein, fr., P; Katie LaHaye, fr., 1B; Michelle Revord, so., P; Jill Fountain, so., OF; Courtney McKenzie, so., OF/IF; Raquel Cooper, jr., OF/P.

2006 Outlook: With just two returning starters in Righetti and Potts, the Braves will be young, but still have high aspirations. "They've established their goals, which includes getting past Whittemore and advancing to the regional tournament," says assistant coach Keith Frank. "The team's defense is much-improved over last year, and that will be one of the keys to the girls achieving their goals."

Righetti, who is signed to play college ball at Oakland University, and Potts will lead a young but fairly experienced group. "We're fortunate to have their returning leadership," Frank says. "We are going to be a young team, but most of the girls have been playing summer ASA ball for the past several years and have gotten a lot of game experience."

Speed will be the strength of the Tawas offense. "Our hitting needs the most improvement at this time, but the girls are starting to come along since we moved outside," Frank says. "We don't have a lot of power hitters so we'll have to work on manufacturing runs more than we have in the past.

"It looks like our biggest strength will be speed, provided we can get the girls on base to utilize it."