Northern Tier Sports Report

Athens Canton NEB Sayre Towanda Troy Wyalusing Youth College Preview/Wrap-Up Opinion

NTL SOFTBALL: THINGS LOOK OPTIMISTIC FOR TOWANDA IN 2025 (2025-03-17)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
Things are looking up for Towanda in 2025. They’re coming off a playoff appearance last season, and return the majority of players that made that happen.

“I’m really excited about this group of girls that we have,” said Towanda coach Caitlyn Crawford. “Just their excitement about the season. I feel that we’re definitely going to be competitive in the NTL this year, and we definitely have the talent.”

They’re led by seniors Aleah Johnson, Tae-Lynn Brabant, and Kynlee Kunkle - all of whom have been contributors since they were freshmen.

“I’m so excited for senior year, I’m pumped,” Kunkle remarked, adding their strong finish to the season last year brings them momentum for this year. “It really give us a lot more confidence going into it. I think we have a good group of girls, most of us are returning. I think we only long one girl last year.”

First things first, they’re focusing on pitching early this season.

“We’ve been working a lot on pitchers and catchers,” Brabant said. “We have our own practice days for those.”

Their biggest loss is 3-year starter Shaylee Greenland, who soaked up 60 innings in the circle last season.

Johnson, though, tossed 53 1/3-innings a year ago, while Brabant, and sophomore Leila Cobb also saw action in the circle.

“I’m actually feeling really good about our pitching depth this year,” said Crawford, noting they also have Brynn Vargason. “We’re not lacking in the pitching depth, for sure.”

Johnson had a 3.15 ERA last year with 65 strikeouts against 15 walks.

“It’s going to be good,” Johnson said about stepping into that number one spot in the bullpen. “I know everyone has each other’s back, so I know it’s just going to be a good run for us. We have a lot of different girls with a lot of different things we can bring for the team, so it helps us out with a wide variety, depending on what team we’re facing.”

They also return two girls who hit .400 or better in Brabant (.435), and Brooklyn Evans (.400), while four other starts hit over .300: Vargason (.350), Wells (.339), Perry (.333), and Johnson (.313).

They really found their offense down the stretch of the season a year ago, something they hope to kick-off the year with.

“We’re really working on hitting at practice,” Crawford remarked. “We’re working a lot on live pitching, and just trying to be consistent throughout the line-up, so we can string things together to be productive at that.”

Bringing back eight of nine starters means that they shouldn’t have to fiddle too much with the batting order, or defensive alignment.

“We’re really comfortable with each other,” Brabant said. “We’ve played together since we were all little, and I think it’s going to be a really good season for us.”

“We’re a family where we get a one so well,” added Kunkle. “We have a great group of girls, we all play our part, and we know that we are one.”

As for how this season is going to go, Crawford feels they should be in the mix. Defending NTL Large School champs NP-Liberty has some losses to fill, while Troy, Athens, and Wyalusing all hope to be tough within the division.

“We can compete with anyone in the NTL,” Johnson said. “I know Troy will be one of the toughest competitors we see, but we can definitely compete with anyone.”

Crawford echoes that sentiment as she hopes they can also be more than 1-and-done in the district tournament this year.

“We’ve seen Loyalsock the past two years, so I’m really hoping that we can get a little bit of a higher seed this year, and maybe even end up with a home district game,” she said. “That would be awesome.”

ROSTER

Aleah Johnson (12)

TaeLynn Brabant (12)

Kynlee Kunkle (12)

Layla Miller (11)

Brooklyn Evans (11)

Brooklyn Green (11)

Caedence Wells (11)

Peyton Rider (10)

Brynsen Vargason (10)

Leila Cobb (10)

Payton Perry (10)