KELSEYVILLE >> Defending champion Kelseyville returns seven of nine starters from a 2017 team that rolled through the North Central League I a year ago to bring the school its first softball title in almost two decades.
The Knights, who went 17-4 under coach Jeff Bour last season, did lose league MVP Riley Goff and second baseman Malia Brown, but otherwise return intact with one other notable change from last season. Bour stepped down as the team’s coach following the 2017 season and is being replaced by Phil Psalmonds, who has all kinds of Lake County sports connections, just not at Kelseyville.
Psalmonds is the successful junior varsity boys basketball coach at Clear Lake High School and is coming off another championship season with the Cardinals. His wife, Marci, is the school’s longtime varsity volleyball coach who also won a league title this season as Clear Lake and Kelseyville finished tied in the final NCL I standings. Daughters Morgan and Emily Psalmonds, both graduated, were key components of the softball dynasty former coach Gary Pickle built at Clear Lake.
So you can add a new wrinkle to the Kelseyville-Clear Lake softball rivalry when the two teams square off in their annual home-and-away series later this season.
Psalmonds is one of three new softball coaches in Lake County this spring, joining Middletown’s Bob Gunion and Upper Lake’s Nick Williamson. Doug Wingler returns for his third season at
However, most first-year coaches don’t have the luxury Psalmonds enjoys in taking over the Knights, which is the return of nearly every starter. While there is no guarantee that last year’s starters will return at the same positions they played a year ago, Kelseyville is loaded with veteran talent, including six returning All-Leaguers — outfielders Bailey Couey and Gracie Davidson, infielders Tymeka Green, Bib Hamner and Paige Bour, and pitcher Allison Bryant. Catcher Taylor Paulich also returns.
While Kelseyville is three weeks into the new season, Psalmonds won’t have his full compliment of players on the softball diamond until the Knights’ basketball season is complete. Kelseyville played Swett High School on Wednesday night in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs.
Looking ahead to the 2018 NCL I softball race, the Knights’ chief source of competition figures to come from Cloverdale, Lower Lake and Clear Lake.
