Kentwood senior Bailey Marshall has high expectations for the fastpitch team this year.

Marshall, an infielder and co-captain, said the Conquerors need to be focused this season to accomplish their goals among them included going back to the 4A state tournament for the first time since 2009.

Kentwood will need to do considerably better than the 7-9 South Puget Sound League North division record it’s posted the past two seasons.

That starts this year with being focused, she said, and working as a team.

“Last year what killed us was injuries,” Marshall said. “We thought, ‘This is was our year, this was our year.’ So, we went all out and by the end of the year we had three or four stars who were injured.”

Marshall was among the hurt players after she suffered a knee injury late in the season. She had surgery after the injury then needed to have surgery again in December so she is just returning to the diamond in recent weeks.

She is also among a core group of seniors — Jalynn Rohweder, Kylie Goodwin, Bethany Pfaff, Marshall, Shian Kelly, Rachel Burr — who have played together for four years.

Marshall’s co-captain, junior Allison Newcomb, thought Kentwood had all the pieces necessary for a deep playoff run.

“We have a lot of talent this year,” Newcomb said. “We have new talent this year, freshmen who we didn’t expect this year.”

When Marshall was a freshman, both the junior varsity and varsity went 15-1, with the varsity winning the league title.

That was the last time Kentwood went to state.

Getting back, Marshall said, is “definitely a goal.”

Along the way, though, Kentwood will have to battle Thomas Jefferson and standout pitcher Katie Jackson.

This season will look different than the past two in many ways, not just the possibility that the Conquerors will get back to state, but that the Raiders and the Conks will likely be battling it out for the SPSL North crown instead of Tahoma and Kentlake which shared the league title in 2010 and 2011.

“I’m excited for us to be up there the whole season,” Newcomb said. “We both have great pitching.”

It’s important to note, Newcomb said, that Kentwood can’t focus on Jefferson and overlook other teams in the North. She pointed out that Kentridge will be good.

“We’re all excited (to play TJ),” Newcomb said. “That’s going to be a good game. And so is Kentlake.”

Marshall echoed that sentiment.

“You definitely can’t discount Kentlake,” Marshall said. “Even Tahoma, they’re young, but they may surprise the league.”

And Newcomb is looking forward to playing Kentlake, which has a new coach this season, but returned a number of players.

With the parity, it will be important for the team to work hard in practice, something Newcomb said she and Marshall are focused on this year.

“We have new goals this year,” Newcomb said. “We have different ways we plan to run practice and games. We have different drills. We’re working harder inside when we hit. We need to have a mentality of wanting to go to state.”

Kentwood lost five seniors to graduation so the team which nearly made it to state last year returns all of its core pieces with some new freshman talent.

“We’ve been young,” Marshall said. “This year, I think it’s just unfinished business. This year will be a big year.”

Marshall added that she learned a lot as freshman from the seniors she played with then.

“The senior class that year, honestly, they were intense,” she said. “Back when we were freshmen, we were scared of them.”

That intensity, though, the energy those seniors brought to the field was a key factor in the success Kentwood had then. Marshall thinks it could be the key for the Conks this year, too.

“Watching last year, I got to see what worked and what didn’t work,” she said. “The biggest thing is energy.”

It helps, too, that one of the crop of “stud freshmen” is a pitcher who can allow senior Bethany Pfaff to take a game off from her duties in the circle once in a while, Marshall said.

“It’s hard having one pitcher,” she said. “So, having options will be nice.”

Newcomb said she is confident in what the Conks can accomplish this season.

“We’re going to go far,” she said.