The inaugural season for West Field High School’s softball team could soon become a winning one as the Longhorns improved to 10-4, third in Region 11, with a 16-1 rout of Sky View at home on Wednesday. With five games to go, the Koford-led Longhorns likely have their eye on more than a postseason win.

West Field sought out a local gem in Koford, one of the state’s winningest coaches at 229-92 (.713) who ushered in three of Roy’s nine all-time state championships during eight seasons as the school’s softball head coach (2009, 2011-12). As an ace pitcher, Koford led the Royals to the school’s first softball title in 1998.

Following her first break from coaching, Koford returned to softball at Fremont in 2019 and delivered a region title with the Silverwolves in 2022. By all counts, Fremont was on the rise, and Koford had an established staff backing her in Plain City — then she got a call about the newly opening West Field.

“I was naive in thinking it’d just be all fun and awesome to just start a new program because it’s hard, and we have a lot of growing pains,” Koford said. “We have a lot of newness in starting a new program in all aspects of opening a school and everything like that, but I’ve had such an amazing experience with these girls and this school, so it’s been quite a treasure.”

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

Part of the puzzle was finding faces Koford could trust. Stalee Griffin, a second baseman for Koford at Fremont and later Snow College, and Griffin’s father, Brock Hadley, joined the effort. Koford’s father, Stan Flint, a longtime area softball sage who coached with his daughter at Roy and Fremont, also played a role in prepping a largely young roster featuring just one senior in utility Ella Doxey.

But even an experienced staff and a winning reputation wasn’t enough to thwart Koford’s doubts about starting the Longhorns from scratch.

“Mostly I was just concerned with how young our team was,” Koford said. “We’ve got such young pitching. Right now we’ve got a freshman and a sophomore pitcher and that’s hard when you’re facing 18-year-old girls to ask these kids to step up and not be afraid.”

Cruising at Weber 25-1 in the season opener on March 11, West Field has racked up double-digit run tallies in eight games already with three Longhorns — Doxey (27 RBIs), junior shortstop Brylee Leatherwood (18 RBIs), and freshman outfielder Clair Nessen (15 RBIs) — hitting above .400 as of April 17.

Even less likely, a young pitching corps fronted by freshman Brinklee Hadley, commanding a 3.23 ERA and 74 strikeouts (29th most in the state), and sophomore Cambree Pierson (5.36 ERA and 16 Ks) is getting the job done against college-bound competition sometimes of legal voting age.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

Such success with this roster, mostly unfamiliar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses when the season began, comes from the Koford staff’s neutrality when it comes to age.

In the case of Doxey, who champions “treating everyone with respect regardless of age or skill level,” Koford’s blueprint for building a fresh squad without seniority or team politics was the leading appeal in deciding to transfer over from Fremont for her senior season.

“That’s one thing that’s followed me around through high school and junior high sports,” Doxey said. “Teams do better when the upperclassmen treat the underclassmen, and vice versa, with respect and try to get together as a team and really be friends and be sisters — when you try to be family with each other.”

Recalling a preseason practice, Doxey detailed a conversation led by Hadley, who asked a roster featuring 17 underclassmen, “Why not us? Let’s make this year special.”

So far, Doxey and her teammates are rising to her coaches’ challenge as the third-place program biting at the likes of Bear River (19-1) and Ridgeline (11-10) in carving out West Field’s identity in Year 1. Only a senior once, Doxey’s bought into establishing a culture that will outlive her time in Taylor.

“It was definitely kind of intimidating at first,” Doxey said. “Age on this team, it doesn’t really have that big of an effect as far as team camaraderie or team skill. We have a lot of skill on this team, even if they’re young players, and everyone gets along so well.

“That’s why we’ve had such a great season so far is because everyone gets along and they want the best for each other out there.”

Koford’s roster rolled the dice on their new school but an explosive lineup and a winning record have the Longhorns playing for keeps in late April.

“I think that was a major sacrifice,” Koford said. “That was pretty big of her because I told them all before they came in that it would’ve been much easier for them to stay at their former schools and their solidified programs and know what they’re getting into.

“But for them to take a chance on me, and a chance on this new school and this extremely hard region, I owe them a lot for being willing to do that.”

West Field hosts Logan (11-8) in another region contest Friday. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.

Connect with sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.